Learning to live by the indwelling life of Christ.
“To live is Christ” means you have all of Christ. But you may not be experiencing all of Christ all of the time (in fact most likely you’re not). But that is our prayer. A prayer for the Spirit to give us strength in the inner man as we allow Christ to make himself at home in our inner man. Jesus, make yourself at home in us.
“To live is Christ” is to be God’s temple. His Holy of Holies. The inner sanctuary where God sits enthroned in our hearts. The church today is the reality of all that an earthly temple could only shadow. Together in Christ we are the meeting place of God and man. He is our God and we are his people to the praise of his glory.
“To live is Christ” is a seal. A possession. An unbreakable presence. God himself is the guarantee of our salvation. Not a creed and not a deed.
“To live is Christ” means we are the living embodiment of God’s great big YES. All of his promises are fulfilled in Christ and now in us. How do we know? Because he has anointed and sealed us with himself, the Spirit, by the indwelling life of Christ. God has preserved us for future glory. Now we can say yes to God. Yes to serving. Yes to sacrifice. Yes to love.
“To live is Christ” is to have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, ministering the death and resurrection of Christ to my life. To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with the life of the Lord Jesus Christ as a seed. He IS at work in us, Christian. And he is not waiting passively for us to meet a series of conditions before he begins his work. In fact, the work is already finished. We are fully alive in Christ. Fully justified. Fully sanctified. Fully glorified. Now the finished work of Christ is the ongoing work of the Spirit in us. By the Spirit, his death IS our life. And our dying is now our living.
“To live is Christ” means we will spend every day of our lives learning to joyfully and faithfully depend on God’s Spirit, our true friend, for all that Jesus offers to us by his resurrection life and our Father’s unconditional love.
