Christ IN us

March 1, 2003

i was using my cell phone the other day and noticed something that i didn't know before. you can actually store extra information for each person you add to the phone. stuff like e-mail, address, etc. and it totally surprised me. here i was using my phone for about a year or more now, and i never stumbled across the fact that my phone could do that. for most of the time, i'd write down someone's address or something and take it with me, when i could have just stored that information in my phone! i was missing out on something great that was already there, but i just wasn't aware of it.

that's a LOT like how we are with our walk with God, don't you think? do we fully understand what it means to have Christ in our lives? do we understand the enormous power we have in Christ? i don't think i completely grasp that. i mean, this is BIG stuff. Christ lives IN us. there's something unfathomable with that statement, something incredibly humbling with that statement, and something incredibly radical about that statement. if we truly knew our position, that would change everything. we wouldn't be living lives of defeat, but lives of power and victory.

when the storms come, and we get hit hard, if we know our position with Christ, then things change. our perspective shifts from our present situation to something Godly. job went through so much horrific stuff in his life. things that would rock ANYONE's core beliefs down to the bone. but he remained faithful to God. even when his closest friends gave him bad counsel, he refused to listen to them. of course Christ wasn't around back in job's time, but he knew his position with God. he was secure with him. i think we could really learn by his example.

7:22 did a series called "two words" last year. and this was on a card that they handed out. i think i'm going to design this card again and hand them out :) anyway, it went like this:

Christ is in me, and i am in Christ.

in Christ, i am loved by God and i am in the beloved
in Christ, i have the life of Christ in me
in Christ, i am a holy one, a saint
in Christ, i am completely forgiven
in Christ, i am alive
in Christ, i have been blessed with every spiritual blessing
in Christ, i have been chosen by God
in Christ, i have been made the righteousness of God
in Christ, i have been adopted into His family
in Christ, i have been raised up and seated with Christ in heaven
in Christ, i have been made complete
in Christ, i am a new creation
in Christ, i have been sealed eternally by the Holy Spirit
in Christ, i have the mind of Christ
in Christ, i am God's handiwork, created for good works
in Christ, i am free from sin's power
in Christ, i have been delivered from darkness into light
in Christ, i have peace with God
in Christ, i have the power of Christ

isn't that incredible? all of these points were pulled out from the Scripture. look them up. you'll see that they are all there :)

i just wanted to end with this verse: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ" (ephesians 1:3 [NIV])

that's right, he said, EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ. :)

Posted by Leo Chan at March 1, 2003 2:10 PM