Living in Christ

Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

– John 12:24-26

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

– Colossians 3:1-4

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

– Galatians 2:19-20

You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 

– Ephesians 4:22-24

As I ponder my commitment to God, I keep coming back to two questions. What separates me from God? What is the most important thing in my life?

I know that certain choices, pursuits, preferences and other things in my life separate me from God; however, as soon as I see a barrier, if I refuse to eliminate it from my life, then I am choosing the barrier over God, and I have identified an idol in my life, a god that I worship. God’s holy word discusses this in terms of life and death. If we truly desire Christ, we give up aspects of our life separating us from God, we hate our life in the world, we die to the world, we put away our former way of life, and we seek renewal of our spirits and souls in Christ.

But I suppose the starting point for considering the worldly in contrast to the holy is remembering who God is and re-engaging with His awesome mystery, because when we encounter God and truly believe that He is who He says, we naturally respond in complete and total reverence, respect, awe and worship. We bow before Him. We realize how far we are from Him in every way. We realize that, compared to Him, we are nothing, and when viewed in comparison to how awesome He is, nothing else is worthy of our life.  

He has always been and will always be. He is the first cause of all that exists. He created everything by speaking. He breathes life into each of us. He has all power and authority on earth and in heaven. His power is beyond our ability to imagine. He is perfect. He sees all and knows all and He is unbound by time and space, so He knows what the future will bring with perfect clarity. And He is the standard by which sin is determined. While we live in sin, He cannot sin because He is the standard and sin is separation from Him.  

When we consider all that He is, we realize how limited we are. Compared to God we are nothing. We are certainly bound by time and space, our reasoning is far from perfect, we mistake good for evil and evil for good, and our ability to create is limited to manipulating that which God already created. He is infinite and we are finite beings that He created, and we are relatively powerless and not very smart. 

But please also realize these glorious facts. God created each of us in His image. God loves you. He is love and He loves you. He desires relationship with you. God is God. He is holy, pure, infinite, all-powerful and awesome beyond our ability to imagine, and He desires relationship with you. How awesome is that?  

And even more awesome than that, the moment we each first believe and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, His Holy Spirit dwells within each of us. His Holy Spirit transforms our spirit and we gradually take on characteristics of Christ Jesus as we progress along the path towards righteousness, holiness, Christ’s holy image, God.  

Compared to God we are nothing, but through His indwelling we are transformed. He promises to fill us with His power. He promises that we have the power to trample on every form of evil. He promises to send His angels to lift us up. He promises to fill us with His love, joy and peace. He showers us continuously with His holy grace, with His love and His life, but we must receive the gift, we must open it.  

According to God’s holy word, we should abide in Him, we should make our dwelling in Him, we should die to self and live in Him, through Him and with Him. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:2-3).

So, what does this look like? How does spiritual transformation reveal itself in the world? As we consider questions such as these we need to realize that we tread a delicate line – our spiritual condition reveals itself through our choices, actions and response to the world around us, but broadcasting a holy appearance is not our goal. If we focus on outward appearance rather than relationship with Christ, we are at risk of transforming faith into a legalistic approach relying on our own abilities – the approach Christ came to eliminate.  

We need, trust and surrender to Christ Jesus, to His Lordship, to all that He is. We cannot rely on ourselves, or our own power or resolve because we are not good enough, smart enough, strong enough or disciplined enough, which is why resolutions rarely lead to lasting change and our covenant renewal is not a resolution. We do not have to do anything except surrender, die to self and allow Christ to take over. We seek first God and surrender to Christ Jesus and allow His Holy Spirit to completely invade our spirits and transform our souls, and as a result we take on and exhibit fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-26) and our choices, actions and response to the world changes.  

For some this happens instantly and for others it is a gradual process, but for all believers, as we grow closer to Christ, as we allow His Holy Spirit to invade our spirits more fully, as we surrender each hidden, dark area of our soul to Him, we stop desiring certain things that we once desired and we no longer find pleasure in certain activities and we find joy in new areas of our life. Spiritual transformation reveals itself through our behavior, but our focus is not on behavior. Our focus is on Christ Jesus and our behavior is ancillary to our focus.

With this in mind, I continue asking myself, what separates me from God? What aspects of my life prevent me from receiving His holy transformation more fully? What is the most important thing in my life?  

As we prepare to renew our covenant with God, we begin by remembering who God is and of how we have possibly drifted away from Him. He loves us and desires relationship with us, yet we sometimes put worldly things in front of Him. We should seek first God, but at times we seek people or things or personal comfort or pleasure or social standing or other priorities first. If we truly commit ourselves to God, we must exchange our priorities for His, surrender ourselves to Him, and pursue a life consistent with our commitment.

May God enlighten the eyes and ears of your spirit so that you see and hear Christ Jesus, and be renewed in His holy image.