"I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the body, I live by faith
in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20
It was awhile ago now that I started this blog, 'Alive in You', almost 3 years ago I think. I have continually come back to say, 'how cheesy is that title - I should change it…' I've had plenty of ideas and thoughts in regard to a new look for my blog… but, I've never followed through with any of them. To be honest, blogging to me isn't about being trendy or being heard {although at times it is tempting to think this way}, rather it is about putting into words what God is teaching me… and of course I blog because I LOVE to write… you should see the amount of books and notes I have down here in our small apartment… ;) Anyways, the point is, today I was reminded as to why I chose that silly little title {which isn't really silly after all}. The whole point as to why I chose 'Alive in You' was because I wanted the over-all theme to be about laying down my life at HIS feet and picking up my cross for HIS purposes. It's a pretty central idea to the bible. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…" this is a motto we as Christians need to continually adopt for our lives.
Galations 2:20 reminded me of this.
End of side-trail.
Back to what I really wanted to write about today…
We as Christians are to be Ambassadors of Christ. "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God" | 2 Corinthians 5:20. So what is an ambassador? It is a person who represents his country in an alien land. A person who is given authority by their government to represent the best interests of their nation. An Ambassador exercises enormous power and influence, especially when they represent a powerful kingdom. If you claim to be a Christ-follower, then you are to be an ambassador of Christ. WE have been given the enormous responsibility of representing Christ in this dark world, and our citizenship is in Heaven… the most powerful kingdom.
Whats the point of me saying this? Well, are we doing our duty? Are we doing our job? There is this quote that I just found today, the author is unknown but I'll share it anyways… "if self is on the throne, then Christ is on the cross. If Christ is on the throne, then self is on the cross." Christ DID his part. He DIED and he ROSE. He IS currently on the throne which means we should be on the cross. But if we place ourselves on the throne, that means we have not actually come to realize the true meaning of the cross, and therefore we leave Christ there - not embracing the authority and power given to us through his death and his giving us the holy Spirit. We leave Christ on the cross and say 'thanks for dying to give me this awesome gift of eternal life, I'll take my seat now on my throne'. Wake-up call, the gift of salvation IS amazing, no words can really do justice, but thats not the end of the story - we were given a task - a task that we should WANT to do well. We need to let Christ take his rightful place on His throne and we need to pick up our own cross and get to work.
The problem is, we don't seem to be placing our lives on the cross. KP Yohannan says, "the measure to which I will manifest the life of Christ is the same measure to which I am willing to put my self to death". Amen! We expect great things of God, but we aren't willing to make room for Him in our lives. The more we give up ourselves, the more of Christ we will see manifested in us… so why wouldn't we want to give all of ourselves up? Well, because our sinful appetites are too strong… and truthfully, it IS hard to change our appetites when our sinful nature is constantly battling our spiritual nature. When we are born again, our old nature doesn't just disappear {wouldn't that be nice!} rather a new nature is introduced and a minute by minute battle begins. Galations 5:17 "…for the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other…"
As ambassadors of Christ, we are supposed to change our appetites to reflect the appetite of Christ in order to better represent HIM to this world. Are we satisfying our own cravings or do we strive to hunger in a new way? It's not about just satisfying ourselves in 'good' ways, no its about completely changing your appetite. Every decision you make through-out your day {what you view, what you listen to, what you eat, what you drink, what you laugh at, what you talk about, what you wear, how you act, what you read etc.} needs to start with Christ. Its no longer about me, myself and I, its about what would HE have me do…
Sometimes as ambassadors however, we can get pretty caught up in ourselves, which is another sinful craving we satisfy without even knowing it because all the while, we think we are putting Christ first. Our religious pride {regarding knowledge, traditions and denominational identities} however will get in the way of Christ manifesting himself within us so we need to lay it aside. Whether you are fundamental, evangelical, spirit-filled etc. whatever your label is, it doesn't change the fact that the bible STILL says, "if you live after the flesh, you shall surely die!" - living outwardly the way your little group says to, but living inwardly after the flesh will still get you the same result… death. Do we really think that on judgement day, the Lord will ask us about our fundamentalist beliefs? Or whether or not our church can be traced back to the apostles? Or what manner we were baptized in? Do we really expect God to say, "you had it right because your denominational label was 'such and such'…. NO! The ONLY thing that will matter when we stand before God will be what is spoken of in Romans 8:13-14, "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God."
Some of the most knowledgable people I've ever known, who live 'good' lives doing 'good' things are so confused because they are living by code. Outwardly they are following all their traditions and rules but inwardly they are not changed, Christ is not manifesting himself in them and they are still sitting on their throne, leaving Christ on the cross. They put themselves first, they would never jeopardize their comfortable lifestyle or abundance of 'stuff'. They live in financial debt, or materialistic greed, all the while giving a bit to the church or to an organization to mask their inner sin.
the point is… Christ IS on the throne, seated at the right hand of God our Father...and for us that means the cross is OURS to bear. We need to place ourselves on the cross, crucifying our old nature and letting Christ manifest in us to give us a new one.
Galations 2:20 reminded me of this.
End of side-trail.
Back to what I really wanted to write about today…
We as Christians are to be Ambassadors of Christ. "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God" | 2 Corinthians 5:20. So what is an ambassador? It is a person who represents his country in an alien land. A person who is given authority by their government to represent the best interests of their nation. An Ambassador exercises enormous power and influence, especially when they represent a powerful kingdom. If you claim to be a Christ-follower, then you are to be an ambassador of Christ. WE have been given the enormous responsibility of representing Christ in this dark world, and our citizenship is in Heaven… the most powerful kingdom.
Whats the point of me saying this? Well, are we doing our duty? Are we doing our job? There is this quote that I just found today, the author is unknown but I'll share it anyways… "if self is on the throne, then Christ is on the cross. If Christ is on the throne, then self is on the cross." Christ DID his part. He DIED and he ROSE. He IS currently on the throne which means we should be on the cross. But if we place ourselves on the throne, that means we have not actually come to realize the true meaning of the cross, and therefore we leave Christ there - not embracing the authority and power given to us through his death and his giving us the holy Spirit. We leave Christ on the cross and say 'thanks for dying to give me this awesome gift of eternal life, I'll take my seat now on my throne'. Wake-up call, the gift of salvation IS amazing, no words can really do justice, but thats not the end of the story - we were given a task - a task that we should WANT to do well. We need to let Christ take his rightful place on His throne and we need to pick up our own cross and get to work.
The problem is, we don't seem to be placing our lives on the cross. KP Yohannan says, "the measure to which I will manifest the life of Christ is the same measure to which I am willing to put my self to death". Amen! We expect great things of God, but we aren't willing to make room for Him in our lives. The more we give up ourselves, the more of Christ we will see manifested in us… so why wouldn't we want to give all of ourselves up? Well, because our sinful appetites are too strong… and truthfully, it IS hard to change our appetites when our sinful nature is constantly battling our spiritual nature. When we are born again, our old nature doesn't just disappear {wouldn't that be nice!} rather a new nature is introduced and a minute by minute battle begins. Galations 5:17 "…for the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other…"
As ambassadors of Christ, we are supposed to change our appetites to reflect the appetite of Christ in order to better represent HIM to this world. Are we satisfying our own cravings or do we strive to hunger in a new way? It's not about just satisfying ourselves in 'good' ways, no its about completely changing your appetite. Every decision you make through-out your day {what you view, what you listen to, what you eat, what you drink, what you laugh at, what you talk about, what you wear, how you act, what you read etc.} needs to start with Christ. Its no longer about me, myself and I, its about what would HE have me do…
Sometimes as ambassadors however, we can get pretty caught up in ourselves, which is another sinful craving we satisfy without even knowing it because all the while, we think we are putting Christ first. Our religious pride {regarding knowledge, traditions and denominational identities} however will get in the way of Christ manifesting himself within us so we need to lay it aside. Whether you are fundamental, evangelical, spirit-filled etc. whatever your label is, it doesn't change the fact that the bible STILL says, "if you live after the flesh, you shall surely die!" - living outwardly the way your little group says to, but living inwardly after the flesh will still get you the same result… death. Do we really think that on judgement day, the Lord will ask us about our fundamentalist beliefs? Or whether or not our church can be traced back to the apostles? Or what manner we were baptized in? Do we really expect God to say, "you had it right because your denominational label was 'such and such'…. NO! The ONLY thing that will matter when we stand before God will be what is spoken of in Romans 8:13-14, "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God."
Some of the most knowledgable people I've ever known, who live 'good' lives doing 'good' things are so confused because they are living by code. Outwardly they are following all their traditions and rules but inwardly they are not changed, Christ is not manifesting himself in them and they are still sitting on their throne, leaving Christ on the cross. They put themselves first, they would never jeopardize their comfortable lifestyle or abundance of 'stuff'. They live in financial debt, or materialistic greed, all the while giving a bit to the church or to an organization to mask their inner sin.
the point is… Christ IS on the throne, seated at the right hand of God our Father...and for us that means the cross is OURS to bear. We need to place ourselves on the cross, crucifying our old nature and letting Christ manifest in us to give us a new one.
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