Dead Man Walking

"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."- Galatians 2:20

This verse is often-quoted.  I wonder how deeply we have pondered the implications of this Scripture.  My fear is that Christians tend to make this a feel-good verse about life in Christ and we leave out the unpleasant detail of our own death.  Paul isn't teaching that Christ is alive WITH us as if there are two lives going on in our bodies.  No, he tells us that when Christ is alive in us, WE ARE DEAD.  How does that jive with a culture that preaches the message of self-esteem, "finding yourself" and achieving your hopes and dreams? 

I'm trying to really get this.  I'M DEAD.  That means my hopes, my dreams, my ideas, my wishes, etc are not important any more.  That probably offends some of you reading this and that's okay---it offends me too.  Here's the thing though---God is not calling me to abandon my hopes, my dreams, my ideas or my wishes.  I'm supposed to be dead.  Dead people probably aren't too worried about themselves.  He is the one that's supposed to be alive, right?  Doesn't that mean that He is the one with the hopes, the dreams, the ideas and the wishes?  Of course, this whole concept of being physically alive while putting my very flawed, very human spirit to death is a bit confusing.  But there is no possible way I can read Galatians 2:20 and walk away with any other interpretation other than the fact that I'm dead and Christ is alive.  I'm not completely sure what that looks like or how my flesh can stand in the way of Christ's work through me.  But my prayer is that God helps me to really let Him live through me.  I'm dead anyways, right?