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."
Galatians 2: 20 NKJV
Freedom was the conversation of the day yesterday. Not only because we celebrated the birth of our nation, but because we once again celebrate the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. The freedom for the forgiveness of our sins {Ephesians 1:7}. The freedom in knowing that our sin issues are non longer an issue for us {Romans 6:11}. This is the freedom that we have in Christ. This is why I can say with confidence that I am free to be me. Free of the fear of judgement that I once lived in. Wondering if I was good enough to be counted as one of the saved of Jesus. Wondering what else I needed to work on to bring me closer to Jesus. Well, it is through Jesus that I am no longer condemned {Romans 8:1}. There is something to be said about living a life of Christ in you. Knowing that those things that used to worry you are no longer an issue. But it's more than that. To live as Jesus is to live in the knowledge that you share your life with Him. Everything I do, no matter how good or bad, I do as Christ who is in me. A good friend of mine shared recently his struggles with staking claim that he himself is Jesus. I get it. I was there once as well. However, if Jesus is indeed in you, can you be anything but Him? This is not a issue of trying to gain personal glory by saying that I am Jesus. I say that I am Jesus because I AM. I am Jesus because it is Jesus who lives in me. The same way that I am part of my earthly Father, Jesus is forever a part of me. How can I be so assured of this? The apostle Paul, himself a late in life convert to knowing Jesus in himself, assures us that Jesus indeed lives through us {Galatians 2:20}. Now, I don't expect everyone to jump on the Jesus bandwagon and immediately come to knowing that He lives in them. For myself, I had more questions than answers when Christ was revealed in me. Most of the questions were centered on traditional church teachings and beliefs which I had been raised on. How can Jesus live in a sinner? Are you comparing yourself to God? It took some time, but eventually I came to realize the freedom to be me.
Knowing 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. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that 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
One of the biggest obstacles I faced in my knowing of Christ in me was the sin issue. How could Jesus live in a sinner? Indeed, the drum beat which every Christian hears throughout their life is that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I agree. We're told that we're sinners saved by the Lords grace. We're told that the best that we can hope for is to "Be more like" Jesus. It is against this backdrop that I struggled to accept Christ living in me. So, when I hear of someone else facing the very same struggles I once faced, I know what they are going through. I believe that it was never the Lords desire to have Jesus simply die on that cross to forgive our sins. No, something needed to be done about the issue of sin itself. When Paul tells us that our "old man" was crucified along with Jesus on the cross, he was referring to that man I used to be {Romans 6:6}. This was the sin I was born into, but it is not the sin I remain in. For it is through Jesus that I am now a new creation {2 Corinthians 5:17}. This is how Jesus can live in me. For He is not living in a sinner, but a new creation in Him. This is why I am free to be me. Free to be Christ who is in me.
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Colossians 2: 13 - 14 NKJV
~Scott~
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