Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Who is Christ IN you?

"I was thinking over the New Covenant and the following came to my mind: it is easy for most believers (myself included) to see God in the majesty of creation and to see Christ in an eloquent speaker or affluent Christian businessman. However, what we, as believers, really need to learn is how to see Christ in ourselves - warts, freckles, ugly second toes and all. I have heard preachers ask “Who is Jesus to you?” but that isn’t really the question that should be asked: the real question that we need to address is “Who is Jesus IN you?” When we truly begin to see Christ in ourselves, the reality of the power available to us will come to light. I sincerely believe that this is the key to every believer walking in total victory; the power to overcome sin, the power to become prosperous, the power to receive healing - unless we begin to see Christ in us at a personal level, all of these things appear as an outside intervention and, therefore, something we must yet attain. If we don’t eventually see Jesus in ourselves, even the best New Covenant teaching can become just another layer of theology relegated merely to the soulish realm."

Peter Youngren

3 comments:

Jim Hoag said...

Craig
Your post reminded me of how years ago my wife and I got into teaching on Col.1:27, “Christ in us the hope of glory”. It added a whole new dimension to the sense of God’s presence and nearness. In Galatians 2:20 Paul notes that “it is no longer I who live…” (Gal. 2:20). And that really went off in us; that it wasn’t us trying to live the Christian life. Rather, Paul goes on to say, "Christ lives in me, and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God" (Gal. 2:20). What a relief to realize that the Christian life didn’t have to be a self-generated imitation of the life of Jesus; that it was the life of Christ lived out through us. And now to see how grace sets us free to function as God intended, liberating us from the fear of man through the assurance of sonship, keeping us connected to Christ through unconditional love and acceptance!
Jim

Jamie said...

Wonderful.

Thanks. :)

Craig Glenn said...

Hey Jim, thats awesome, great revelation...

Gee, "and the life i now live i live by faith in the Son of God"...awsesome. Not faith in Christianity, or any things else Christianese..."FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD"...faith in Jesus...He is my faith faith, my grace, my life...nothing else...He is the one who i put my faith in...not my works, my thoughts...His works, His thoughts...its awesome...great comment!