One Ash Wednesday morning, I was preparing ashes to apply to hands or foreheads in a special worship service to begin the Christian season of Lent. 

I struggled with the particular recipe as I mixed ashes and olive oil. As I tested it, the ash mix wouldn’t shape a clear, defined black cross. It smudged, smeared, and after a few hours dissolved and disappeared. 

I was a bit frustrated until I remembered this verse: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). 

Later, when applying the ashes to others, I spoke the verse God provided. I said that the smudging and blurring of the cross on their foreheads or hands meant that the death of Christ was dissolving into them, into their bodies, their souls, their identities, their problems, their eternity.

When your boss or boyfriend treats you unfairly, you are not a victim who must beat yourself up with guilt, but you are a victor alive in Christ. 

When your family or friends let you down—or you let them down—you don’t have to punish yourself with blame and shame, because all punishment for sin already took place in Christ crucified, who is alive in you. 

When you can’t find enough time to pray or read your Bible more, you’re not dead to God or worthless as dirt, but you’re as precious as his own Son, Jesus.

Christ lives in you.