Christ in You!

When grace happens, Christ enters. Christ in you, the hope of glory!

For many years, I missed this truth. I believed all the other prepositions:

Christ for me, with me, ahead of me. But I never imagined that Christ was in me.

I can’t blame my deficiency on Scripture. Paul refers to it 216 times. John mentions it 26. No other religion or philosophy makes such a claim. No other movement implies the living presence of its founder in his followers.

Muhammad does not indwell Muslims. Buddha does not inhabit Buddhists.

Influence? Instruct? Yes. But occupy? No.

The mystery in a nutshell is Colossians 1:27: “Christ is in you!”

The Christian is a person in whom Christ is happening! We sense his re-arranging. He’s turning debris into the divine, a pig’s ear into silk purse. Little by little a new image emerges!

God’s Grace!

From GRACE

~ Max Lucado

Grace: unencumbered by guilt, shame, fear

By Jon Walker

Jesus answered,

“If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink,

and I would give you fresh, living water.”

John 4:10 (MSG)

Grace allows people to make choices and trusts them to make the best choice.

Grace is free and flowing.

It is unencumbered by guilt or shame or fear because grace says, “I know all about you, and I still love you with a godly acceptance.”

We see this in John 4, when Jesus meets the woman at the well.

When she offers to give him a drink, he says,

“If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh living water”.

Note that Jesus talks about how gracious God can be.

Yet, if we’re honest, we often behave as if God is stingy with his grace.

We fear his punishment, acting as if he’s like a high school vice principal walking the halls,

taking down names.

Who did what and who’s to blame?

But God already knows who did what and who’s to blame,

and he loves us anyway.

His aim to redeem us, not to keep us on the hook for our sins.

So why do we live as if we’re still on the hook.

And why do we tend to keep others on the hook by using weapons of the flesh—

like the sarcastic comment or the angry stare—

designed to get people to straighten up and live right.

In contrast, when the woman at the well goes back to her village, she says,

“Come see a man . . . who knows me inside and out” (John 4:29 MSG).

Jesus knows all about her,

and yet he communicates with her in such a fashion

that she leaves feeling loved and accepted.

That’s grace.

Why we must depend on God’s Grace

Romans 2:1 (New King James Version)

¹ Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

No one is good enough to save himself. We must depend totally on God’s grace, regardless of whether we have done horrible things, or have been full of good deeds and rarely do anything wrong. Any sin is enough to cause us to depend on Jesus Christ for salvation and eternal life.

Note: Dictionary.com defines salvation

sal·va·tion

[sal-vey-shuhn]

noun

1. the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.

2. the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.

3. a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.

4. Theology . deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; redemption.