October 7 - The Life of Christ in Us

When Christ comes into your life, He lives in you. Everything else that you do, you do it with Christ in you. Every thought, emotion and decision must be done in Christ and not outside of Christ. This is the meaning of the Christ life in every believer. In order to live this life, we must have the consciousness about Christ every day and every moment. Our whole mind must be redirected heavenward and we must seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God in a place of authority. We are to set our minds on things that are above and not on things below. When we do this, our lives are hidden with Christ in God. We have the best protection when we are in Christ.

Spiritual discernment is very much needed when we live our lives. We need to distinguish what is from God (what is good) and what is from the devil (what is evil). When we do what is good, we honor the Christ in us; but when we do evil, the devil owns parts of us where Christ cannot rule. Paul offers three things to us for our daily decision-making. These are all related to Christ: the peace of Christ, the Word of Christ and the name of Christ.

The peace of Christ acts as an umpire, declaring whether a certain thing is from God or not. This inner witness of Christ’s peace must be experienced through the body of Christ. It is not a subjective feeling of “no trouble” but a corporate affirmation of what is good. As we have hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, we make the right decisions. The unity and peace within the body of Chris witness to the peace of Christ.

The Word of Christ must live in us richly, not sparingly. We are to teach and admonish each other in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to one another. It is not about human words or advices but about how Christ looks at the situation. Christ rules us by His Word, both written and spoken. Any community of Christ that does not know His Word is in danger of not only apostasy but also of getting lost in the world.

The last thing about Christ is His name. We are to do everything, in word or deed, in the name of the Lord Jesus while giving thanks to God the Father through Christ. There are many names on earth, many families with different names. However, once we become children of God, we take on a different name, the name of Christ. We no longer do things for our own glory or according to our will, we do all things in the name of Christ, submitting our will to His and our names to His name. Think about this: Do you operate on the peace of Christ, the Word of Christ and in the name of Christ?