Christ in You, the ONLY Hope of Glory

"When a man thinks he is something, he has deceived himself."

One of the things we just plain 'ol have to get before we really, truly grow in the Lord Jesus Christ is that when He came to live inside of us, He came to live in a dump.  "What?!? Are you calling us a dump?"

Yes, I am.  Compared to WHO He is, we were all a bunch of "run" down houses, the plumbling leaked for sure, the walls had holes, the roof caved in, etc.

But it was God's good pleasure to come dwell inside of us.  He came in because we believed the Gospel, received the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts, and then God did the work of His Holy Spirit to make our human spirits alive in Him; AND, the Holy Spirit also came.  But ABOVE all this, it is because of the fact that Jesus Christ paid the price for us to be saved!

Well then when He moved in, He had to go to work.  And it is because of the blood of Jesus Christ, the everlasting covenant and everlasting blood, that God does not abandon His work in us.

What's He up to?  Just very simply renewing our minds, (our souls) and teaching us Christ living in and through us.  Because now that He's IN, He Himself declares us sons of glory, sons of God - and "in the spirit," and no longer "in the flesh."

Now we still have "flesh" in our thinking, etc., but again God says we are no longer in the flesh!  Romans 8.  Yet He renews our minds, thoughts, ways - for we once we're under a different power - the spirit of the world, Satan himself.  And his work did some real damage at some extent in our walks, talks, etc.

But God's Spirit is life, light, liberty, real righteousness and God is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure - in all things, in every way, in all relationships, in all situations, on this planet and in our lives.

The world does not recognize Jesus Christ or God's Spirit.  It cannot.  And many times through this continued deception and willfulness of man, they do not recognize or acknowledge God's Son in us.  For they did not do this in Jesus' earthly ministry.  They picked up stones at time to try to kill him, or try to throw Him off a cliff - all because the devil had their minds blinded to Him.

We do not have to live that way at all.  We can know Him - and "see" the work of His hands in our lives.  His Spirit came in to conform our vessels to the image of Christ Jesus.  The Spirit is of the Father and of the Son.

Until God can indeed get us to the place where we understand fully we were nothings when He came in, then we experience with joy, the true work of His hands.  As I look back on my life and truly "see" what salvation is really all about, it was easy for me to see how much I had my own ways mixed in there and sorrow for doing so.  

This is why the blood of Jesus Christ is so important.  He is continually cleanses us from unrighteous ways (whether we realize it or not yet), as He works in us to make us what is well-pleasing in HIS sight.  Hebrews 13.

The best thing that can happen to you and me is realizing we truly are nothing but His nothing - and then to yield ourselves to the ONE who can indeed make us what the Father desires for us to do on this planet.  Plain and simple to me.  Jesus Christ Himself IS the all and all and the Supreme Being - and praise God, we're in HIM!

In the meantime, we get the joy of fellowship and communion with Him.  He was happy to "move in" our hearts when He did.  He's not mad because we're stupid - only grieved if we fail to cooperate and move with Him as He works in and through us.  After all, was He not grieved with Israel in the wilderness because they failed to "move with Him?"

What a wonderful Gospel, what a wonderful Lord Jesus Christ.  He truly has paid the price for us and the joy He wants us to experience will have everything to do with how much we have ALLOWED HIM to have His true way in us. 

Sue Gaither