Tag Archive for Living in Christ

One with Christ*

2013-09-15 Devotional with Hymn No comments

God’s goal and desire is to make us one with Himself. Each of us. All of us. That has always been His amazing purpose.

But for many believers, Jesus is like an unnoticed guest, shut up in some little-visited closet in a corner of their house. He has been there since they believed in Him and received Him. He longs to make Himself known to them, to be one with them in their daily lives and share in all their interests. But He will not force Himself on anyone.

They walk through their lives unaware of their Guest, ignorant of their marvelous privileges. They come and go, lay their plans, make their decisions, pursue their joys here and there, long for peace, stumble through relationships, and inwardly mourn their unsatisfying lives, all with little reference to Him.

Believer, hear this beautiful, life-changing truth: the Lord is with you! The Lord is in you! Throw open every door to Him. Make Him the center of every part of your life. Talk to Him. Thank Him. Consult Him. Trust Him. Lean on Him. Get to know Him.

But this picture of Jesus as a guest doesn’t fully express the reality. He longs to join His innermost life—His very breath—to our innermost life, to the essence of who we are. Through a living relationship, built on trust, He will come more and more into real union with us. His will becomes our will. His actions become our actions. His love, His passion, His holiness become increasingly ours—not in theory, not in ecstatic emotion, not someday and far away—but now, in living, daily reality.

Like every part of salvation, this happens by God’s love, through simple faith. It comes by turning to Him and trusting Him, one step at a time.

*”One with Christ” was inspired by chapter 17 of “The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life”, by Hannah Whitall Smith, 1875.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: One in Purpose, One in Passion
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Justice

2013-09-08 Devotional with Hymn No comments

How do we know what is just and right in any particular situation? What is justice after all?

We usually think of justice as a certain standard of fairness, of right and wrong. We say that God is just because He consistently adheres to that standard.

But God is the creator and source of all. There is no separate standard of justice to which we compare Him. There is no outside set of rules by which He must abide in order to be “just”. He Himself is the standard of justice. Justice flows from His character and is seen in all His actions. We say that He is just because we see that He is always consistent with Himself. His actions are always consistent with His perfect wisdom and perfect love.

So how can know and live just lives?

We are just when we are like Him. Our actions are just when we act like Him.

We often think of justice and mercy as opposites…or at least as two competing values that must be balanced. We see justice as absolute rightness, and mercy as a kindly compromise with justice. But when we realize that justice and mercy are both descriptions of God’s nature, we see them not as opposites to be balanced. They are two facets of the same jewel. God is always merciful and always just.

Thus when we are called to seek justice in this unjust world, we are not called to a specific social agenda. We are called to think and live and be like God. We are called to be holy as He is holy, to live and speak the truth as He is the truth, to love as He loves. We are called to be His children, His ambassadors, His servants, His hands.

The Old Testament beautifully pictures our just and loving God, reporting His words and actions over many centuries. But He is most completely revealed in Jesus Christ. He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) and the exact representation of His being (Hebrews 1:3). What is more, Christ enables us not only to see and know God, but to live in Him, and He in us. He gives us the Spirit of God so that by simple faith, we can live just and loving lives in this present world. Through His people, and above His people, God is creating the just world that He has promised.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Justice Hymn
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All the Life of God

2013-09-05 Devotional No comments

John 3:22-36

Near the end of the ministry of John the Baptist, the spotlight that had been on him was shifting to Jesus Christ. John accepted his fading role joyfully:

“He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30, NASB).

Earlier John had introduced Jesus as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, NASB) and “The One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33, NASB)

Now John gives us three more snapshots of the Messiah, raising our eyes to show us all that Christ will be for God’s people:

Jesus is the Bridegroom.
He came to bring about a joyful, loving, eternal union
between God and His people.

Jesus is from heaven,
from the unseen Father.
He came to show us wonderful realities
that we cannot know or experience any other way.

Jesus is the fullness of God.
He speaks and lives all the truth about God.
If we simply trust Him,
all the life of God is ours forever.

Complete Freedom

2013-08-11 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Often we define freedom as the ability to do what we choose.
But even when we can choose, we are not free.
Though not bound by another human being,
our choices are bound by our own self-centeredness,
our weakness, and our addiction to sin.
These chains are the most binding of all.

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Romans 6:12,16, NIV)

True freedom is the ability to choose the best,
to become all our Creator designed us to be.
True freedom is release from our addiction to sin.
It is a beautiful, constant oneness with Jesus Christ.
In Him we become all God’s love wants for us,
all His wisdom designed for us, and
all His unlimited power can make us.

That is true freedom!
Strenuous effort cannot win it,
strict self-discipline cannot achieve it, and
personal merit cannot earn it.
This freeing oneness comes only by simple, moment-by-moment trust in Jesus Christ.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Freedom in You
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I Want to Know You

2013-07-07 Devotional with Hymn No comments

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (Philippians 3:8, NIV)

My life is crowded with so many desires, so many goals, so many questions. But, Jesus, I’m realizing that I truly want only one thing:
          I want to know You.

All my ambitions and drives, my goals and dreams of glory, my preoccupation with my own comfort, I give them to You, Lord. I release them to You and cut the cord. Nothing else is worth holding onto. Nothing else is worth craving.
          I want to know You.

My eyes go to the future, my Lord, and I know that more storms are coming. What troubles await me in life? What does it matter? Whatever troubles come, they will bring new discoveries about You. They will bring a deeper, more personal knowledge of You, and a stronger faith that sees You more constantly and clearly.
          I want to know You.

My heart begins to leap at the possibility of being found always and entirely in You, with the baggage of self-interest forever buried and gone. Praise to You, my God! What a wonderful redemption that will be! My faith comes alive, knowing it will be. It is coming. You are doing it, and You always finish what You start. I know You now, Jesus, by Your goodness, and then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12, NIV).

Thank You, my Lord! Fill my heart now with the desire that will delight me throughout eternity:
       I want to know You. I want to know You, my Lord.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Lord, Life Becomes More Simple
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Filled to All the Fullness of God

2013-05-16 Devotional No comments

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-17, 19, NIV)

That beautiful passage of scripture has always intrigued me, especially that last phrase. The concept is grand, but what does it really mean to be filled with “all the fullness of God”?

In Christ, all the fullness of God dwells bodily, and you have been made full and complete in Him. (Colossians 2:9-10, para.)

What could it mean to me—to you—in practical, daily terms to be completely filled with God himself? We know that He is always present, not only with us, but in us, in an intimate and holy way.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you…?
(1 Corinthians 6:19, NIV)

You have experienced that presence. What if we learned to look to Him, to trust Him more simply and constantly, to realize His presence and rest in it completely and always?

Imagine the wonder of hearing Him speak to you in wisdom and love. Imagine the wonder of knowing His will.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21, NIV)

When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. (John 16:13, NIV)

Imagine Him speaking His words from your lips.

Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. (Mark 13:11, NIV)

Imagine dreaming His dreams, envisioning what He has planned for His people.

I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. (Joel 2:28, NIV)

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
(1 Corinthians 2:9-10, NIV)

Imagine being sufficient for every challenge, empowered by God’s own strength.

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty.
(Zechariah 4:6, NIV)

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8, NIV)

Imagine the pleasure of having His own character growing and developing within you, naturally, daily.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV)

Consider what it would be like to be free forever from the bondage of your sin.

Now that you have been set free from sin…the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:22, NIV)

And imagine being wrapped in His perfect peace.

The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:6, NIV)

These blessings are not someday and far away. They are all in Christ, and He is present. These blessings are not vague and abstract. They are practical and life-oriented. They are for talking, thinking, reacting, and doing.

They are not by struggle or superior intellect, not reserved for the elite, not beyond anyone’s grasp. They are available for all who will daily, simply trust the God who is with us right now.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us…with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3, NIV)

See the Future

2013-03-24 Devotional with Hymn No comments

“Father, glorify your name!…Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” (John 12:28a, 31-32, NIV)

The world was about to see Jesus’ enemies
arrest,
try,
condemn,
humiliate,
execute, and
bury Him.

But looking at the same events, what did Jesus see?
He saw all the powers of evil
judged,
condemned, and
driven out of our world forever.
He saw Himself high and lifted up, and
our entire race streaming to Him.

Do we see what Jesus saw?
Not yet,
but the battle has already been fought and won.
God’s love has already secured for us a bright and glorious future.
We are enjoying its first fruits even now!

Imagine Jesus Christ the first of a whole new race of human beings,
a race completely free from the curse of sin, death, and the fall,
holy and glorious as He is,
children of our Father in the fullest sense.

 Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Alive in You
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