CHRIST IS MY LIFE

DEVOTIONALS: CHRIST IS MY LIFE   

1. “Whoever has the Son has life”

“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:12) The eternal life is the very life of God, the life that has been revealed in Christ. Only true believers have that life. Not only must God give salvation from sin and death, and give life; He must also give His Holy Spirit to make us know what He gives. Christ IS your life. Christ Himself is your life and your power of life; in yourself you have no life and no power. Your nature has no spiritual life and no spiritual power – this is the truth you as a believer need to discover about your own nature (flesh) and see it. It is the inner work of the Holy Spirit.

The human nature is exceedingly sinful.

Maybe you have accepted this truth in general. However, you must believe this truth about your own self and it should penetrate all of your life. According to God, the old life’s nature is exceedingly sinful and evil: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Rom 8:7); “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Rom 7: 18) “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.” (Gal 5:17); “through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful.” (Rom 7:13) Our nature is full of selfishness, self-centeredness, and pride, and much more; there is no good in it at all. God found only one solution to our evil sinful nature and that was crucifixion, applying death to it. This doesn’t mean we will always do evil works; however, we have the potential to do evil anytime. We may not do evil works, but that doesn’t mean our nature is less evil. It is the Holy Spirit working in the world that’s keeping people from doing evil, if they respond to Him. 

However, the fact remains that our nature is evil (see Romans 6 and 7). God declares that every one of our sins are exceedingly sinful. But we do not accept this, we believe our own human evaluations and judgements. We do not live believing that our selfishness, self-centeredness, and prideful expressions and behaviors are all exceedingly sinful, and are enmity against God. This is what God’s Word clearly reveals about your nature and your sins, but you need to discover and see it within you. If you do not take the time with God to discover this truth from Him, you will remain the same person, with only human improvements, but without any heavenly changes. You cannot know this on your own, only a yielded and seeking heart can receive the needed revelation and conviction. Seek the face of the Lord.

Here is an area we need to grow in: pleasing God must include not sinning and confession when we sin. Only specific confession brings forgiveness and cleansing of sin. Meditate on the following few questions before God, ask and patiently wait upon God for His revelations and convictions about them. Seek His presence.

Does my rudeness or using harsh words look exceedingly sinful to me?

Does my criticizing and condemning look exceedingly sinful to me?

Does my not forgiving look exceedingly sinful to me?

Does my jealousy and envying look exceedingly sinful to me?

It is the seeing (not knowledge) of your nature’s exceeding sinfulness within you that brings two needed experiences to you: (1) a new heart-brokenness and (2) despair of finding any goodness in yourself. This is not a teaching to learn but a reality God wants you to experience. These heart experiences brought about by the Holy Spirit takes you to God to seek Christ as your only life to live by, and your only true freedom: “Whoever has the Son has life”. This is the new brokenness that God is leading His children into. God is after you so you can heart-see that you literally need Christ, not only have Christ in you, but have Christ’s life in you in order to live His life in you, as your only salvation from your nature – not just learn but heart-see. This is a divine conviction given to a surrendered and seeking heart. We have passed from death into new life; Christ is my only life if I keep my own flesh crucified by exercising my believing faith during the day. 

As believers we have received Christ at conversion, He is in us: “your real life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col 3:3); “Christ lives in me.”  (Gal 2: 20) However, we need to, consciously and believingly, surrender our nature to the cross of Christ and take His life to live our daily life, while believingly rejecting the old life and keeping it crucified by daily believing. We know Christ is our life, we accept that and we believe in that, but do we live believing everyday that He is our ONLY life to live by and anything outside of that represent death? This is exactly the understanding and the reality God wants to achieve in us – individually. This is the path we are refusing to take, we still see some good in our nature and outside of God and run to it. We do not see its enmity against God. We are trying to please two masters! This is our hidden tragedy.

Christ IS your life.

I not only have to receive Christ but also take Christ moment by moment, every day, as my life, given by God to me to live His life in me in full power. Like the OT Israelites, I need to get the given manna everyday, and use it every moment needed. I need to be convicted of my ignorance concerning the new life in Christ, convicted that I do not know enough about the new life. You are a believer and you know God, you know Christ is your Savior. I am not talking about that. I am talking about not knowing enough and not feeling content about spiritual truths that you know to some degree, because this will influence your growth in holy living. We all need to discover from the Spirit what we do not yet know all about our salvation and sanctification. Your self-confidence and indifference is coming from your religious flesh. We need to seek this discovery, it is dangerous to neglect it. Christ Himself is my life, not me; this is the main truth that I do not know enough. I am not life, Christ is life – my life. “We know that we have passed out of death into life.” (1 John 3:14) Though a believer, I need to be convicted of my inability to form right thoughts about it on my own. I need to be alone with God in my secret prayer chamber communing with His heart; inner revelations and convictions related to spiritual self-discovery happens in the inner chamber of prayer within my heart. 

Christ is our life. He must live His life in us and that is why Christ became man: to live a life of full trust in God on earth, to show to us how we must live on earth with complete dependence on God alone. When we understand what life of Christ is, and how it becomes ours than we will be prepared to desire it. The Spirit will lead us to ask Christ Himself to live it in us, to replace our life. Only Christ is life. 

If we really want to understand what living in Christ means, we must go to the root of that life. We need to see how Christ lived His life before God: It was a life of absolute dependence, absolute trust, absolute surrender to His Father. If we are not one with Christ in these principles of His life, it is useless to seek to copy His life.