Looking Within

I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast for I intend to go in harms way

~Captain John Paul Jones~ 

Since you seek proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.  For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God.  For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.  Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves.  Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you are disqualified.
2 Corinthians 13: 3-5 NKJV

Every now and then, each one of us is inclined to look inside ourselves.  Whether it be merely for personal inventory or  for self improvement, we routinely take stock of what we have within us.  Some are satisfied with what they find, while others are not.  What we find in those less visited places within us may cause us to make drastic life changes.  For myself, it was my fitness and my relationship with Christ Jesus.  Others may find other barriers to their personal growth.  There may be addictiions, behavior or family issues to be dealt with.  The truth is, we may never know what we are facing unless we take a step back and look within.  In 2 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul wrote to those of the church at Corinth that they should examine themselves in this way.   Paul saw a few issues with the church in Corinth, but he also believed that they had not trusted Christ Jesus without reason.  Paul seeks for those in the Corinthian church to examine themselves, to look within and take stock of their faith.  As Paul asks, "Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?"  We today may well ask ourselves this very same question.  We often hear others tell us of how we need to be more in step with Christ.  Well, look within for your answer.  Where is our trust?  Do we truly trust and believe in the truth of Christ Jesus which Paul often spoke of?  Do we believe the lie that is often spoken even today that Christ Jesus is seperated from us as He sits looking down upon us from heaven?  For the very same truth Paul spoke of is as true today as it was in the days of the church of Corinth.

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.."
Galations 2:20 NKJV

That truth which Paul so eagerly asked the Corinthians to look within themselves for was the very same truth he refered to as the "Mystery among the Gentiles" {Colossions 1:27}.  This "Mystery" being the truth of Christ in you.  Not Jesus on a seperate plane watching over us, but Christ Jesus physicaly with us!  This is sometimes too much for some to wrap their understanding around.  It was, in fact, one of the biggest struggles I've had in my faith.  How could a sinless Jesus even come close to being in such a sinner?  Does not God despise sin?  Yes!  However, there is a chain of events which occured in order for God to fulfill that relationship He once shared with us before our fall into sin.  First, Jesus was scourged, tortured and put to death for the very forgivness of those sins we carried with us.  Jesus Himself became sin in our place, taking upon Himself the punishment which was meant for us.  This being accomplished upon His death on the cross, our sins were indeed wiped clean.  However, the sin "Nature" we were all born into still remained.  Had it not been for the death of Christ, we would still be afflicted with this penalty.   With the death of Christ on the cross, that "Body" of sin we once carried was put to death as well.  When He rose from the dead days later, any semblence of the "Old man" we were born into was put to death.   In essence, a part of us died on that cross with Jesus.

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we shouuld no longer be slaves of sin.  For he who has died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we should also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no llonger has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but tthe life He lives, He lives to God.  Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 6-11 NKJV

It's not a bad thing for us to pause and to take stock of just where we are.  However, we may well do ourselves a disservice when we choose to believe in something which is just not true.  When we look within we no longer see sin, but Christ Jesus who is in us.

~Scott~