“Glimmerings of Glory” Part 3 – Actuality, Acknowledgement, Application

     The high calling of God that born again believers serve as vessels of Christ begins with the actuality, or the fact of the matter.

    “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father” (Galatians 4:6).

     Whether or not we realize and consistently apply the truth, the Spirit of Christ lives within us if we have believed.  “We have this Treasure in earthen vessels” declared the Apostle Paul (II Corinthians 4:7).  Thus, we possess potential to bless both God and man with the Lord Jesus as revealed in the unique person we are, and the particular life we live.  We are what we are, and we are where we are by the working of God for this sublime purpose, again, regardless of our awareness of such blessed truth.

     True fulfillment of our hearts and the fulfillment of life’s purpose begin when we acknowledge our privileged role and responsibility.

    “Yield yourselves unto God as those which are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Romans 6:13).

     Paul commands that we view ourselves as “alive from the dead” selves, that is, as those joined unto the risen Lord Jesus.  “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (I Corinthians 6:17).  Indeed, we are not simply ourselves if we have believed.  We are ourselves, as inhabited by the Holy Spirit.  Such realization is a game-changer, as it were, if we determine to seriously accept the truth so often proclaimed in the New Testament.  We did not awaken to this day in order to live our lives as if by ourselves.  We rather “live through Him” (I John 4:9).  This is not mere esoteric philosophy for the believer.  This is Truth, truth to be acknowledged by decisive faith, and then…

    Applied.  “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).  In essence, the Apostle commands that we be who we are.  We take the many opportunities life affords to remember Whose we are, and who we are.  The world, the devil, and the flesh constantly seek to distract and discourage us from the fact of Christ in us, and us in Christ.  We would all acknowledge that they have too often won skirmishes in this “good fight of faith” (I Timothy 6:12).  Never, however, have they succeeded in changing the truth that the Spirit of the Lord Jesus dwells in us as our very life.  They cannot change this Truth, affirmed by Paul to be “sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30).  Yes, our Lord inhabited us for the duration when we believed, the duration of both time and eternity.  The Christian who awakens and acknowledges this truth, even perhaps after a long season of spiritual slumber, possesses the holy potential to yet again arise in the grace of a Christ nearer than our next breath. 

    Such blessed truth came at so high a cost that we must not fail to acknowledge and affirm this ever-present life of Christ.  Indeed, the Lord Jesus was abandoned by His Father and the Holy Spirit on the cross of Calvary – “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” – so that we might never be alone or live alone in either time or eternity (Matthew 27:46).  Again, we are ourselves as united to the Spirit of Christ.  This is God’s view of His trusting sons and daughters.  It must be ours as well.  To the degree we open our eyes and apply our hearts to so great a gift will be the degree to which we please our Heavenly Father with His Son as revealed in us, and bless our world with the same.

“It pleased God… to reveal His Son in me.”

(Galatians 1:1-16)

“I will dwell in them, and walk in them.”

(II Corinthians 6:16)

“Glimmerings of Glory” Part 2 – He Lives, We Live

“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

A careful reading of the Apostle Paul’s well known declaration confirms our premise of the Spirit of Christ and the spirit of the born again believer united in a bond wherein both parties vitally live and function.

First, Paul writes of his apparent demise – “I am crucified with Christ.” He returns, however – “nevertheless I live.” He departs again – “yet not I but Christ liveth in me.” Finally, the Apostle returns to stay, declaring himself to live, but to do so by the auspices and enabling of the Lord Jesus – “I live by the faith of the Son of God.”

In this enigmatic description of life in Christ, Paul speaks to our premise that human beings exist to serve as “the habitation of God through the Spirit.” The Spirit of the Lord Jesus lives in us so that we may live through Him.

Thorough consideration of the New Testament epistles affirms this truth of a life whereby the Son of God dwells in trusting sons and daughters of God without eliminating or annihilating our singular humanity. He lives, revealing in us His character, nature and way as the motivating and enabling power of all godliness. We live, our human personalities, characteristics, histories and gifts serving as unique vehicles through which Christ shines forth to His Father in Heaven, and to the people with whom we live our earthly lives.

The discovery of this truth establishes the foundation of understanding whereby God prepares us to walk in a genuinely Biblical faith, along with the expectation and submission that accompany trust in God. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). We recognize our complete dependence on the Lord Jesus – “Without Me, ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Upon this basis of trust, we then realize and rejoice in our privileged calling to exercise our God-given faculties and gifts with great enthusiasm and application – “I can do all things through Christ” (Philippians 4:13). We live with a restful heart, but also with an active mind, will and body for the glory and pleasure of our Heavenly Father as His beloved Son shines forth to Him in beloved sons and daughters.

We also recognize our calling to present Christ to our sphere of influence in ways not possible through anyone other than ourselves. Indeed, concerning both God and people, we possess heritage, traits, experiences, histories and capacities Divinely designed for our Father’s joy, and for the particular human relationships encountered along the pathways of our journey through life. As the Lord Jesus illuminates these facets of our being and our way, we glimmer forth in a radiance of Him, and of ourselves as enlightened by Him. Again, He lives in us and we live through Him, resulting in our blessing both God and people as Christ is revealed in and by us.

“The Lord taketh pleasure in His people.” (Psalm 149:4) “Ye shine as lights in the world.” (Philippians 2:15)

Part 3: Recognizing, accepting, and affirming our privileged calling with God, and with people.

“Glimmerings of Glory”

Introduction

The timeless, spaceless God thinks and perceives in far different terms than His creatures, the best and brightest of which know nearly nothing of that which can be known. “His understanding is infinite… If any man think he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know” (Psalm 147:5; I Corinthians 8:2). How an all-knowing God relates to little knowing creatures such as ourselves boggles the mind. Why He defers to do so humbles the heart. More importantly, it reveals the humility of His heart. We seemingly have nothing to offer Him of either intellectual or emotional content. Our relationship with the Lord meets no need in His all-sufficient being. Our prayers cannot inform One who possesses infinite understanding. We can do nothing for Him in the normal sense of reciprocal relationship. Why then does He find interest in us?

I can think of only one answer that, to my mind, begins to offer insight into the enigma.

“God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father” (Galatians 4:6).

God created human beings to serve as the dwelling place of His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When we believe and His Spirit indwells us, our own spirits leap to life – “to live is Christ” – and the process of actualizing our humanity for its originally intended purpose begins – we “live through Him” (Philippians 1:21; I John 4:9). Thus, God the Father experiences His Son as revealed through many sons and daughters, each with their own peculiar and particular facets through which the light of Christ shines forth. “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord… But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (Proverbs 20:27; John 1:12).

The Lord Jesus forever occupies His unique place with God the Father as God the Son, and as “the only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Our role as beautifully distinct rays of Christ’s light nevertheless offers to the Father ways of lovingly relating to His Son that never existed until He enacted His creative and redemptive processes in Christ and in humanity. I find this a sublime consideration, that in you and in me something of the Lord Jesus formed in us by the Holy Spirit presents itself to God in a way that is both Him and ourselves. He is the Light and we are the lamp, the personally and individually formed (by God) vessels that present His Son’s illumination in glories heretofore unseen because they are Christ as revealed in and through us.

Such wondrous truth changes everything in our lives. All things become the holy means by which Christ lives in us, we live by Him, and God the Father is blessed by the union of His Son with His sons and daughters. Indeed, every believer bears the potential of absorbing and radiating our Savior’s light in glimmerings of glory unlike any other facet of the jewel that is the body of Christ. Knowing this truth motivates us to grow in our relationship with the Savior in order to discover the countless ways He seeks to shine forth from us unto the Father, and to our particular sphere of influence. Our reason for being is thus vital beyond all imagining, promising that this and every day can be filled by Light within, and fulfilled by Light shining forth from us radiating the beauty of Christ.

“Jesus spake again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12) “Ye are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14)

Monday, Part 2: “Not I, But Christ” – Galatians 2:20