Galations 2: 20 NKJV
I woke up this morning wondering, where are you God? See, the past few days I have been afflicted with a cold, so I figured maybe God God could give me some relief from that. Well, the trouble with that is, for a instant I began to wonder just where to look for Him. Of course, in my heart I knew the answer to that question. God was in the same place He'd always been, in me. I am the reflection of all which He is. Not only that, it is now HE who lives, not me {Galations 2:20}. That's right, the old man I was is pretty much dead now. This is what the apostle Paul wrote in Galations. I've also come to realize that it is this truth of Christ Jesus in us that seems to be one of the stumbling blocks in our own understanding of who it is that Jesus really is. We're more than comfortable with the traditional idea of Jesus as a preacher Son of God who died on the cross for us all. However, is that all He is? Not to me. To me Jesus is much more personal. Not only does He live in me, but He shares in all which I experience in my life. If I'm sick, this is what Jesus is feeling as well. If I am anxious, these are the feelings of Christ in me. How can that be? Well, if the old man I once was has perished {Romans 6:6}, who is left in me but Christ Jesus Himself? This is the very essence of what Paul tells us in Galations. Yet, far too many christians miss the boat on this personal relationship with Jesus. Instead, they strive to "be more like Jesus" which has been part of church theology for thousands of years. Here's my question, why take the counterfeit when you can have the original? Why live a life stiving to "be like" Christ when you already are? It all seems a bit misguided to me.
6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done 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, 3reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 6 - 11 NKJV
The more I matured in my own faith the more I realized that I could never "be like" Jesus as the popular teachings told me. For the more I tried to be like Him, the more my won guilt and shame over my own sins got in my way. I've got a feeling that this is the case for more than a few christians today. Well, I'll tell you that simply being like Jesus is a hamster wheel which you will never get off of. Believe me, I tried. The good news is that this was never the way God intended us to live our lives. We were meant to live our lives IN Him, not "like" Him. In His prayer in the garden, Jesus reveals this to us. As He prays, Jesus asks that we would be ONE with the Father as He and the Father are one. Can there be any stronger evidence that we are simply not created to "be like" Jesus? I call that a cheap imitation, a knock off. For even if we achieve that goal of being like Jesus, we still miss out on the personal relationship we were meant to share with Him. Not only that, but living that life strengthens the false teaching that we are seperate from God. We were not created to live seperated from God. However, over the centuries this prevailing church teaching has become the belief of our own relationship with God. God is in heaven with Jesus, and I am down here on earth. What union do you see in that scenario? What relationship are we to have with a Jesus who we are seperated from? I'll tell you, long distance relationships don't work in this situation. The first step to knowing the Christ Jesus who is in you is to trust that He is...in you. After all, we're told that He definately is in us. We're told that we're to live a union life in Him. When our veils are lifted, we will know that He indeed lives in us {2 Corinthians 3:14}. Then we will surely see the man in us.
20“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who 10will 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."
John 17: 20 - 23 NKJV
~Scott~
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