You in Christ
Embracing our true identity guarantees living in a new reality. Paul wrote several times in his epistles to the churches about the life that we, the believers, ought to live before God and before the world – we are ‘in Him’ and ‘Christ is in us’. For God, there is no other way He will ever treat us and relate to us but in and through Christ alone.
Here are some of the reasons: God has accomplished His Eternal Purpose in Christ (Ephesians 3:11), in Him He chose us before the foundation of time (Ephesians 1:4) and our lives are hidden in Him (Colossians 3:3) and that in Christ we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3).
Jesus talked of this reality to His disciples before His arrest and crucifixion. He told them to “Abide in Me and I in you” (John 15:4). There is no other way to live our Kingdom life but to always abide in Him. We can never experience the fullness of the Kingdom of God apart from remaining in Christ – in spirit, in consciousness, in desire, in heart and in an organic, living and intimate way. As for the Father, what is true with His Beloved Son is true of us because we are in Christ. It is therefore illegal for us to ever think of any thoughts or imagine ourselves contrary to God’s intent and love towards Jesus Christ.
In John 17, Jesus closed with this statement packed with great revelation, “I have declared to them Your Name and will declare it, that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” Jesus declared the Name of God to them- ‘Abba’ Father. And He promised to continually declare (reveal) it to them. God is so much a Father to us as He is to Jesus. And because of this, the perfect love of the Father towards His Beloved Son is toward all of us His children – in the same depth, measure and intent. Pause for a while and meditate on that one. Our finite mind could only infer the surface of this revelation of the Father’s great love to us.
And because of this love, Christ resides in our innermost being by the Holy Spirit. No wonder Paul prayed, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19). The Father’s Love is the master key to experiencing the fullness of His Glory.