When my oldest son was eight years old, I took him to McDonald’s for dinner one night. We were finishing our meal, and he was still hungry. He really wanted another cheeseburger, but I really wanted to not get up. So I said, “Here … take my credit card. Go ask for a cheeseburger and give them this.” He suddenly looked scared and said, “Dad, is that legal?” I said, “Hmmm… I don’t know. But give it a try.”

I watched him go up, ask for a cheeseburger, and give the credit card to the cashier. The cashier looked at the card, and then looked at my son. He said skeptically, “You’re Mr. Dirks?” I had to suppress a laugh as I watched my son drop his voice about two octaves and say, “Yes I Am.” The cashier looked at the card again, and looked at him again, and said, “Good enough for me.” He rang it up and my son turned around and yelled out so the whole restaurant could hear, “Dad! It worked!”

That’s the image I get when Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Christ living in me means everything that’s true of Christ is true of me. I get access to everything he has. Everything that’s been given to Christ has been given to me.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Christ living in me means everything that’s true of Christ is true of me.[/perfectpullquote]When some people hear that, it sounds way too mystical. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me? It’s like some kind of Jedi chant. “I’m one with the Force, and the Force is with Me. I’m one with the Force, and the Force is with Me.” Maybe it sounds like something you say to psych yourself up. It’s something you repeat just to give yourself a shot of confidence.

That’s why Paul wants to make clear, this isn’t some psycho-mystical thing. He says this is “the life I now live in the flesh!” In the real world. With crazy traffic on the H1, and rent payments that are way too high, and cars that break down way too quick. With bosses who are over-demanding, and kids who won’t sleep, and in-laws who are passive-aggressive, and neighbors who drive you crazy.

Living in the flesh means we’re talking about living the same, earthly, everyday lives we’ve always led. Except Paul says, “I live it by faith in the Son of God.” The son of God! Not just some random guy in the Middle East who died 2000 years ago. The son of God is living. In. Me. How amazing is that?

There might be crazy things happening around me every day. I might be shaken around all the time. But if the Son of God is living in me, that means my foundation is solid. Immovable.

It’s like the huge monkeypod tree at Liholiho School. When it gets really windy, you should see the way the branches at the top are shaking. We’ve seen 75-mile-an-hour winds come through Kaimuki, like the night a few months ago when we had a church dinner at Liholiho. On my way to the dinner, there were stop signs getting ripped out of the ground, and flying down 10th Avenue. I think I saw small children flying down 10th Avenue. It was craziness!

When I arrived at the school, I looked up at the monkeypod tree. The top was a swirling vortex of death in the sky. A chaotic blur of branches and leaves. It looked just like the end of every Marvel Comics movie. That’s how you know you’re watching a Marvel movie: there’s always a swirling vortex of death in the sky. It seemed like the tree and the whole world was going to come crashing down on our heads.

But then, when I looked down at the trunk, it wasn’t moving a millimeter. That tree wasn’t going anywhere.

That’s life with the Son of God living in me. If you look at the top, sometimes it’s crazy, chaotic, and confusing. But look at the root, and you’ll see: it’s not moving a millimeter. It’s solid. If I have the Son of God holding my life together, I’m not going to be worried about the things I used to be worried about. I’m not going to be obsessed with the things I used to be obsessed about.

I’ve got Christ living in me. And that changes everything.