"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: 23 NKJV
I can recall making my share of bad choices. Choosing to race my bike downhill without brakes was a bad choice. Choosing to get between two fighting cats...another bad choice. Many of us have a history of making bad choices, some more than others. Recently I thought of some of the choices which Jesus needed to make in His life. I came across many a difficult decision, but no decisions which we would clarify as bad ones. Was choosing His path to the cross a bad decision? I would say no. For Jesus knew His path before He embarked on it. He chose the Fathers will over His own {Luke 22:42}. So, I present to you another question, did Jesus choose you or did you choose Jesus? Did I choose Christ when I accepted Him into my heart? Or, did Jesus make that choice Himself long before I was even born? I know that I am created in the Lords image {Genesis 1:27}. Knowing this, I realize that I have an intimate connection with the Father. However, Jesus also speaks to us that if we have seen Him, we have seen the Father as well {John 14:9}. Therefore, I can be assured that if I am created in the Fathers own image, that I bear the image of the Son as well. I also know that each and every detail of my life was chronicled by the Father before I was born {Psalm 139:16}. So once again I will pose the question, did I choose Christ or did He choose to be in me? Well, I will take a step out of traditional institutional Christianity and say that Jesus...became me. Yes, I took the initiative to accept Him into my heart, but by that time He was already in me. How do I know this? The apostle Paul speaks to the reality of Christ in us in Galatians. Paul had experienced Jesus first-hand on that road to Damascus. It was here where Jesus introduced Himself to Paul. Of course, I'm of the mind that the Father had been in Saul from the beginning, yet Saul only finally came to the realization that day. So it is with us.
"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
So, in answer to my inquiry, it is Christ Jesus who chose us long ago. Long before we even were able to identify who Jesus even was, He was in us. We know this from scripture. So, why is it that I took so long to come to my senses and accept the Lord Jesus into my heart? I'll put it to you another way, what took me so long to realize that Jesus was in me? Far too many Christians spend a lot of time on that spinning hamster wheel in their attempts to measure up to "being like" Jesus. When in reality, all we need to do is come to that realization that Jesus has been there all along. If we have the Lord, we have Jesus as well. If we have been created in the Fathers image, then we have the image of His Son as well. But don't be discouraged, because Saul didn't come to the realization of the Lord in him right away either. Paul himself tells us that his own realization of Christ Jesus in him came in the Fathers own timing {Galatians 1:15-16}. Why did it take me so long to realize the truth of Christ in me? My own realization of the truth of Christ came upon me when it pleased the Lord. This is indeed why so many Christians still have not known the truth of Christ in them, their time has not yet come. I believe that the Lord chooses the appropriate time to introduce to each of us the truth of His Son. Our choice comes when we choose to accept Him or not. Choose wisely.
~Scott~
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