Galatians 6:14-15 AMP
But far be it from me to boast [in anything or anyone], except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. [15] For neither is circumcision anything [of any importance], nor uncircumcision, but [only] a new creation [which is the result of a new birth— a spiritual transformation— a new nature in Christ Jesus].
For the Christian, the centrality of the Cross should dominate the way we see ourselves, and the way we see everything else. The Cross is the apex of all human history, and on a individual level, for each believer, it is the apex of our own personal history. When Paul spoke of the Cross, he was always referencing the Cross event which includes the resurrection. In the Cross event we were created in Christ Jesus according to Ephesians 2:10, and became New Creations in Him. In His death, we died to the law (the guilt of the broken law, and the curse of self effort to try to live a life pleasing to God that the law kept us under), the power sin, and the powers of darkness; but according to Galatians 6, we also died to the world, even though we still live in this world. As a result of the old self being crucified, and being a new self in Christ, we have been placed into “another world;” that is a different realm of reality called the Heavenlies.
No matter where we go, we carry with us this different reality and realm, because in Christ we are seated in the heavenly places. Our death with Christ upon His Cross means we have been crucified to the world in the most practical ways. We don’t see realities the same way the unsaved do. We don’t view circumstances through the lenses of the dictates of those who are of this world. Jesus told the Jews in John chapter 8 that they were from below but that He was from above, and in John 3 John the Baptist stated about Jesus that “He who comes from above is above all”, and then restated it by saying, “He who comes from heaven is above all,” and “He bears witness of what He sees and hears” from Heavens perspective. We are now in union with that person, Jesus, and though we are in the world, we are not of the world. We no longer determine truth solely based on what a news agency, or government official tells us; we have died to the world, and the world has died to us, and therefore we take everything that we hear and filter it through heavens perspective. Not being of this world does not mean that were called to be joyless and miserable people, but instead we are those that are filled with the joy and the glory of another world that is whole, and holy. Hebrews 6:5 says that we are “sharers of the power of the age to come,” and therefore we live by a different perspective, and we are dominated by a different power; Resurrection Power. We look at the world through the lens of the Cross; not Chaos. The unsaved who see the world through the lens of chaos live in perpetual fear and intimidation. The world that we live in as new creations, in Christ, because of the Cross, is filled with joy unspeakable, full of glory, and a peace that passes all understanding. At the Cross Jesus reconciled the whole world to the Father, and one day we will see that fully manifested, but for us as individuals, we can celebrate every day that our world, has been totally changed, and we have been placed into another heavenly world while still on earth, where Jesus is our Lord and Life.