Our Selfie

20“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

If you look anywhere on social media these days you'll more than likely see someone posting a "selfie" self portrait from one location or another.  This seems to be the modern greeting card, a electronic greeting that seems to scream "Look where I am!"  In fact, Dennis and I have gotten into the selfie habit ourselves, snapping as picture at each hike we do.  It seems that I have pictures of us standing in front of trailhead signs from Portland to the Columbia River gorge.  Yes, we were there, and we have the pictures to prove it.  Far from people taking random self portraits and posting them on facebook, I never saw too much use for these self portraits.  But, that's just me.  I really can't complain all that much as I've snapped a few selfies in my time myself.  Instant communication, instant postcards.  I'm guessing it has more to do with being social than anything else, I get it.  However, I've also seen people waste 15 minutes trying to get the perfect selfie.  People...it's a picture!  I can understand if it was a formal portrait, but c'mon, 15 minutes?  I guess I'm not into that hipster in crowd.  So, for that person who takes 15 minutes taking that perfect selfie, what are you expecting to see?  Something different than the person you saw in the mirror only hours earlier?  Well, if indeed that's what you're looking for, then you might just  be disapointed in your own selfie.  As for me, I never really expected to see someone different looking back at me after I took a selfie.  But, who is it that I see when I snap another facebook picture of myself?  I'll tell you who I see, I see Jesus.

9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Romans 8: 9 - 11 NKJV

Indeed, when I look in the mirror, that man staring back at me...is Christ.  By the same token, with each selfie I take...I see Jesus.  The apostle Paul makes it pretty clear in Galations that we ourselves cease to exist, but that the Spirit of Christ Jesus Himself lives through us.  Indeed, everything that we experience each and every day, we do so as Christ Jesus.  Of course, this wasn't possible until that sin nature which we were all born into {Romans 3:23}.  However, through the death and resurection of Christ it is His Spirit which now remains in us.  For lack of a better description, we ARE Jesus.  If that sounds a bit too hard to wrap your understanding around, consider the reaction of the Jewish officials when Jesus proclaimed that He was indeed the Son of God AND the promised Messiah {Matthew 27:11, John 19:7}.  Was Jesus wrong in making such statements?  Of course not, and neither are we for staking claim that we live as Christ Jesus who is in us.  The is the truth of Christ in us.  This is our real selfie.

~Scott~