Galations 2:20 NKJV
We have a friend in our group who has said on more than one occasion that it is very difficult for him to proclaim that he is indeed Jesus. Despite scripture reference to the contrary, there is still that reluctance to claim what his spirit already knows. That the risen Spirit of Christ Jesus lives through him. I guess I can't blame him, I struggled with that very same realization in myself. Was it ever that difficult for me? Maybe at times. I remember simply saying "I'm Jesus" without fully comprehending what it was that I was signing onto. I hear that there have been more than a few of us who have gone through the same struggles as I have. This is the reluctant Jesus. Of course, it doesn't help matters that the modern day institutional church does not back us up with teaching that we are indeed Christ. See, that would somehow be blasphemy. As a freind recently told me, it seems that Jesus has become hidden behind the clergy and the elders of the church. I get it. What organization can survive if its own members flock towards a better idea? So, I get why todays church has did its best to hide the truth of Christ Jesus in us. However, that in now way means that it isn't true. I think of the push back that Jesus received as He proclaimed Himself the Son of the living God. Yeah, that threw more than a few Pharisees for a loop. Yet it was, and is, true. Am I supposed to simply overlook certain parts of scripture that the church feels is not relevant? Sorry, that's not my thing. I'm of the belief that if it is written in the word, then there is a truth and a reason for it. It is meant to leads Gods children into a new realization. A realization of Christ in you.
6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be adone away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.7For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 6 - 11 NKJV
A friend once told me that in the latter stages of his career as a pastor that he began to come to the realization that the teachings of the church he served were less and less about Jesus and more about tradition and the survival of the organization. How many other christians have come to that same realization and ended up leaving the church dissolutioned and lost? I mention this simply because if others have come to the realization of that truth of Christ then it is only by the revelation of our heavenly Father. The apostle Paul, on his Damascus road experience, was brought to this very same revelation {Galations 1:15-16}. It's not through our own timing or realization, but by the very revelation of God. So don't feel so bad if you struggle with what our Lord has revealed in you, you're in good company. Now, realizing that the Spirit of Christ lives through you is one thing, but understanding it may bring its own challanges. Enter the reluctant Jesus. Indeed, if Christ lives through me, then He shares in ALL that I do and experience in my own life. In fact, there is nothing that I do in which Jesus is not intimately involved. He is involved in every breath, heartbeat and decision I make each day. This is Jesus in me. This is the prayer of Christ in the garden which we see in John 17. This is the prayer of Jesus which was ultimately answered, that we would be one with He and the Father. As He lives through me, so I am one with Jesus and the Father. There are still times when I feel like a reluctant Jesus, but I honestly feel more complete with Him than without Him. We can certainly feel like that reluctant Jesus, but that in no way changes who we truly are in Him.
20“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who jwill believe in Me through their word;21“that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.25“O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26“And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17: 20 - 26 NKJV
~Scott~
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