We like to talk about getting Jesus into our hearts, or to
say that we accepted Jesus Christ, or that we gave our lives to Christ...
However, in these days, we are learning more and more about the right emphasis
of Christ actually giving His life to us. It's not 'God, look at what I'm doing for you!', it's 'God, look at what you did for me!!'
What's more is that we gather with other people with
like-minds, and we all congregate to show God what we do... When we ought to
really remember that Christ is us is more of what He did for us, and we all
ought to appreciate that as individuals and as a whole!
Now, what does it mean for us to have Christ's life? What
does it mean when we say that we are united with Christ?
Before anything else, we ought to see what problems we had
at first. We came into this world with a problem. Religion shows up and
presents all sorts of things you ought to be doing in order to address this
problem.. Unfortunately, our problem goes deeper than that. Our problem is not
rooted in our doing, but in our being. Romans 5:12 states that sin entered into
the world through one man, and by sin, death entered into the world. We came
into the world infected with sin, and consequently, death.
Our problem was death. The obvious solution was presented by
Jesus - Life. Christ came so that we would have life. Christ did not come for
us to come together to come up with a way to live according to religion.
Ephesians 2:1 - As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins.
We did not just carry sin and death, but we were literally
soaked in it, locationally. So Christ did not just come to give us life, but to
take us from death and sin, into life, and life abundantly! So we should
probably stop asking God to bring us from death to life, because by Christ's
finished work, we have been brought from death to life! We shouldn't be living
out death and striving to be saved, because Christ has already brought us to
where we were being deceived to believe we weren't!
Christ has truly brought us to Himself, but unfortunately,
our minds can still be in Adam, and in death... We ought to remember Who we
have and where He brought us.
Colossians 2:13 -
When you were dead in your sins and in
the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us
all our sins.
We are with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.
Let's continues digging into the Gospel that we ought to be
knowing so much more about. We are 'incredibly
fused' with Jesus Christ. We should stop thinking that He should get closer
- He is as close as He could ever be to us! It is no longer us who lives, but
Christ who lives within us.
This doesn't necessarily mean that we are superheroes that
demonstrate visible displays of power! Yes, we have power, but this power does
not conform to the standards that we spell out! Christ's power and life are
demonstrated to and through us in the little details, even in those that we
dismiss as unspiritual - If Christ is alive in us, then everything is
intertwined with His spirit, and everything becomes spiritual..
There isn't a phase when Christ is closer to us, and there
isn't a separate phase when we are left alone - There are only two conditions -
walking in the flesh, or walking in the Spirit.
But because of His
great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even
when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. -
Ephesians 2:4-5
RIGHTNESS is
RIGHTEOUSNESS, and RIGHTEOUSNESS is FREE, paid by the blood of Jesus Christ.
There are no precursors to becoming or getting right. You are made right by
God's grace, and NOT your decisions. The Law has no power to make us right, and
to therefore give us life! Rightness does not come by doing! Turn it around, we
have been made right, and now we are free to do - not a license to sin as these
grace bashers would contest, but a freedom to live life, and life truly
abundantly!
The True Definition
Of Eternal Life
Life with no end and life with no beginning. Whose life is
this? It can only be God's life, the life of Jesus Christ. If you have Eternal
life, this implies that you have the Life of Jesus Christ! We had a beginning,
a DOB, but when we believed in Christ, in came His Eternal Life, a life which,
again, has no beginning and no end.
For the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-Romans 6:23
I tell you the truth,
whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will
not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. - John 5:24
God has said,
"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." - Hebrews
13:5
We are saved by His
Life! We remember His death, but it was in His resurrection that our
forgiveness, our righteousness, and our salvation were guaranteed - It was by
His Life that we were saved!
For if, when we were God’s
enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more,
having been reconciled, shall we be saved
by His life! - Romans 5:10
Jesus said unto her,
"I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believes in Me, though he
were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever lives and believes in Me shall
never die. Do you believe this?" - John 11:25-26
We have UNION. We
have fusion with Christ. We have infusion of Christ's life, injection of His
life into our human spirits. His life flows in us. His blood flows through our
veins.
Before long, the world
will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will
live. - John 14:19
Eternal life is not our life extended! Eternal life is not
our lives improves - our lives are made eternal because Christ is eternal!
For me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain. - Philippians
1:21
This is, indeed, sounding foolish to the world and to those
who are perishing. And we'd be fools about it too if Christ was dead. But He's
alive - and not only does He live, but His life is Eternal, and this is the
life that we have!
As good as Heaven is,
His life, Christ’s life is now.
I have been crucified
with Christ, and I no longer life, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in
the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for
me. - Galatians 2:20
_________________________
email me at jibee@rocketmail.com.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you His Shalom. - Numbers 6:24-26