Christ In Us

Everyone has those special days they will never forget.  They form memories that last a lifetime.  For example, how about the day you graduated from school, got your first job, or got married to the love of your life.  Or better yet, how about when the Colts won the Super Bowl.  (Okay ladies, I guess the wedding day was a little more important.)    

I have several of those special days tucked away in my memory.  Certainly the birth of my children rank right up there at the top.  I can remember each one of them like they were yesterday.  Talk about special moments in time.

My wife and I loved and cherished all three of our little ones.  I’m sure it was the same for all of you who have been blessed to have children.  Now take those memories of the day they were born and try to imagine coming home from the hospital and doing nothing with your newborn son or daughter.  You don’t feed them, dress them, clean them, or hold them  You just abandon them and let them figure out how to live life on their own.  Can you imagine that?  Ridiculous, isn’t it?  What loving parent would ever do such a thing?  What parent could claim to love their child if they did?

So if a loving earthly mother and father wouldn’t abandon their children after they’re born, would our heavenly Father to do that to His children?  Would He let His sons and daughters try to figure out this new life on their own?  Let’s allow Jesus to answer this one.

Shortly before his death, Jesus spoke some final words of comfort and peace to his disciples.  He told them, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.  Because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”  (John 14:18-20)

With that said, let’s return to our question.  Would God abandon us after we’re born into His family?  As Jesus said, He will not leave us as orphans.  He didn’t just give us life; he leads us through it.  He will never abandon us.  We are His now and we will always be His.  That’s how much He loves us.

With that now settled, we have another question to answer.  How does He lead us through this new life we’ve been born into?  It begins with one simple but extremely important fact – Christ lives in us!  Paul referred to this truth as a “mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.”  He also called it our “hope of glory.”  (Colossians 1:26, 27)

This promise of Christ living in us is given to everyone who believes.  On the day of Pentecost, Peter and the other disciples were preaching to the crowd of Jews who had gathered in Jerusalem from all over the world.  As Peter told them about how they had killed their Messiah, the crowd cried out, “Brothers, what shall we do?”  Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”  (Acts 2:37-39)

Now you may be thinking, “Wait a minute.  You said that Christ lives in us.  Peter said we would receive the Holy Spirit.”  That’s right.  That’s how Christ lives in us—through the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Godhead.  And as Peter also said, each of us receives the Holy Spirit at the moment we believe.  And from that point on, he indwells every believer, and through him, Christ lives in us.

Peter revealed a profound truth that day.  And he was in good company because he was in complete agreement with his Lord.  As Jesus told his disciples, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”  (John 14:16-17)

And we also have Paul and John testifying to this same truth.  As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”  (1 Corinthians 6:19)  And John also exclaimed, “This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.”  (1 John 4:13)

What a marvelous gift we have been given.  To reiterate, God gave us new life when we believed in Jesus Christ.  But He didn’t stop there.  There is no way in this universe that God was going to leave us as orphans.  He wasn’t just interested in a growing family of children.  Like any loving parent, He wants to see His children grow and prosper.  To accomplish that, He gave us the Holy Spirit so that Christ would live in us.    

So what does the Holy Spirit do?  How does he lead us through this new life in Christ?  That will be the topic for next week’s post.  For now, take the time to thank your Father for not abandoning you as a newborn but instead caring for you so much that He gave you His Spirit—Christ in you.  Now that’s love.  And that’s essential grace.