Philippians 1:21a
I thought through my life as a Christian and I wondered what word spans most of my time as a believer and describes my most common feeling. Guilt won by a huge margin. It has both motivated Me and paralyzed Me. I’m hyper-aware of my sin. I see where I fail. I believe I should be making every effort. I then Love and try to serve and obey. But, when I read the Word, I feel condemned. That was until yesterday. I finished the last chapter in the book Beautiful Outlaw and I can’t justify continuing to live like that. It hasn’t yielded a full life. I will always be lacking. This is what I read:
“Jesus has no intention of letting you become whole apart from his moment-to-moment presence and life within you. Your brokenness and your sin are not something you overcome so that you can walk with God They are the occasions for you to cry out… Christ in you, your only hope of glory. Let this sink in: Jesus has no intention of letting you become whole apart from his moment-to-moment presence and life within you… you are still a branch in desperate need of a Vine. If you have found his morality, wonderful. But you can’t hope to pull it off without his life.”
“The blossom of your humanity is the life of Jesus in you. You get to live his life!
Oneness with Him. Allowing his life to become your life. His revolution is not self-transformation, but his transformation of us, from the inside out, as we receive his life and allow him to live through us. Vine, branch.
Incarnation in you.”
His power didn’t just create a new Me on the day I was born again. He didn’t leave Me to then be solely responsible for my continual transformation and growth. That’s how I’ve thought most of my Christian walk. I walk, and He is beside Me, guiding, leading, etc. But that is not true. He is In Me. When I ask Him to invade me, we are together in Me. All the time. He is not far away. He and I share the same heart, soul, eyes, ears, touch, compassion, wisdom, obedience, love. I’m not alone trying and failing. I am not one. I am the sum of He and I. The life of Christ is in Me.
“When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:4
“Or do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?” 2Cor 13:5
“I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Galatians 2:20
I’ve read those verses so many times. But I never heard them. Until now. All day, I’ve been talking to Him, knowing He is here. I am not alone. I’ve never been since my spiritual birth. He walks into every room I do. He is present in every temptation. We experience hurts in tandem. He equips me in every act of Love. I am still Me, but He inhabits my heart. This the most empowering fact second to the Cross. That He intends to coexist in Me because He fiercely loves Me and is going to ensure I make it Home. I am not alone.
Love Always❤❤❤
In the last few weeks, every sermon or book or spiritual input I receive, I compare to the truth of who He really is. On Sunday I was in a class that was studying the book of Romans. The day I walked into the class they were on Chapter 2. The whole class was focused on the righteous wrath of God. Usually I never say anything because it just seems like everybody just wants to be heard or hear themselves talk. But, I had to say something. I raised my hand and I said that everything about God is LOVE. His wrath is LOVE. It’s not just punishment to keep us in line. But this is how the class was being taught. That was the trap I just escaped from. Fear is respect and it is the beginning of wisdom but the warnings and admonitions in His teachings are only part of the picture. Jesus is SO much more than the red words.