The fact that Christ actually lives in us by His Spirit gives us hope of living with Him in glory (Colossians 1:27). When we see carnality in our life, we should confess it as sin, but then rejoice that the Spirit is exchanging His fruit, through the sanctification process, for our errant attitudes and character traits (Galatians 2: 22-23; 1 Corinthians 6:11). The more we submit our life to God, the more we die to sin and the less Satan is able to hassle us. We start to reflect the glory of our Heavenly Father a little more each day, because Christ lives in and through us.
One of God’s mysteries is
that Christ can actually dwell in our hearts by His Spirit (Colossians
1:26-27). When we choose to die to our
self - to lay down our own dreams, goals and desires for our life - we embrace
God’s will for us instead. We live by the faith of Jesus who loves us and gave
Himself for us (Hebrews 1:3; Galatians 2:20). This does not mean that we live in destitution and
unfulfillment. It actually guarantees that we find even more blessings in God’s
service, than we did when we controlled our own life (Romans
8:5-8). Living in union with Christ
becomes our only passion.
By God’s grace, Jesus Christ brought salvation to the whole world. He dwells within us and inspires us to abandon all unrighteousness and carnal desires. He redeems us from sinful behavior and purifies us as a people who belong to Him. His Spirit within us allows us to live a self-controlled, holy and upright life in this world. As we wait for our blessed hope, which is the reappearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, we cheerfully and zealously follow His Spirit’s direction (Titus 2:11-14).
When we follow the leading
of the Holy Spirit moment by moment throughout the day we are sure to succeed
in everything we do (Deuteronomy 28:13). We cannot live with one foot in the world and one foot in the things of
the Spirit. This is impossible because the flesh lusts against the Spirit (Matthew
6:24). God’s goal for us is that we walk
in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-17, 25; Romans 8:9-14). Christ buried us with Him in His death by baptism
and raised us up from dead works by the glory of our Father. Now we can walk in
newness of life forevermore (Romans 6:4).
Since
we are in union with Christ, the kingdom of God is now within us, and God
blesses us with all spiritual blessings from His throne (Luke 17:21;
Ephesians 1:3). Jesus
gives us great power, which comes from God and not from our self (2
Corinthians 4:7).
We set our mind on things above, not on things on the earth, and our treasure
in not from this earth (Colossians 3:2; Philippians 2:5, 4:8). We are now the sons of God,
led by the Spirit of God as we take the time to submit our life to Christ one
moment at a time (1 John 3:2).
Prayer:
Father
God, thank You for raising us up as You raised up the Lord Jesus. Thank You
also for bringing us into Your presence for eternity. Our inner man is renewed
day by day, and this encourages us, even though our body is getting older. The
trials we experience are not devastating to us any more. They are only light
and momentary affliction now, because we no longer focus on the things we see
in this transient realm of life, but only on the eternal weight of glory You
are preparing for us. We look forward to this glory, which far exceeds anything
we have ever seen or experienced on this earth (2 Corinthians 4:13-18). As we share the gospel of
Jesus with others, Your grace extends to more and more people, which increases
our thanksgiving to You.
Thought
for the Day:
When God sees us, He sees us in union with
Christ, perfected and cloaked in His righteousness. Thank you, Kelly Bradley Davidson, for allowing me to use your photo.
