All tagged abiding
Who is Jesus in relation to God? Is He a servant, a slave, a son, a prophet, a high priest, a tool, or all of these things? If you are having trouble answering this question then perhaps you can more easily answer the same question regarding yourself and your relationship to Jesus... No? Jesus is before all else the Son of God. We read the account of Mary and the birth of Jesus, but then at His baptism God Himself speaks and calls Him Son in proclamation to all in attendance...
Jesus wants more than a casual relationship with us, and in this desire of His, He is exhibiting the will of the Father. They don't want to just know us and have us know them, they desire for us to become one with them. To join in a relationship that is far beyond a spiritual acknowledgement...
Each of us who believes carries Jesus Christ, and His power, within us. This is certainly the test of our faith. We must ask ourselves if we believe this to be true, and if we can say “YES”, then we have passed the test of faith, and the glory of God will be found within us. If Jesus is not in us, and we display no evidence of His power, then we are surely lost, and destined to continue seeking until we can at last accept Him, and invite Him to abide in us.
Do we think that because Jesus ascended into Heaven that He no longer abides in us? Do we think that He has traveled far away to sit at God’s right hand, and left us alone with our faith and the Holy Spirit? Well, just as God is with us always, so it is with Jesus. The world might not see His body, but as believers we see Him in us, in our lives, and in the eternal life we have been promised in Him.
As post ascension Christians we have received a gift from God that the world can never have. Jesus told his disciples that He would ask God to give us a helper, and God responded. Our gift is the Holy Spirit, and He resides in us us from the moment we first believe, and will abide in us forever. So abiding within us we have God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit... but do we open ourselves up equally to their presence each day? Do we invite each of them to come to the forefront in power, love, help, and comfort? Have we accepted the Holy Spirit within us just as we have accepted God, and Jesus Christ, or have we relegated Him to some minor role in our faith?
Is it enough to say that Jesus was crucified FOR us, or is the true height of our redemption that by our believing in Him He came to live IN us? If we think that Christ was sent to live, die on the cross, and be resurrected, to defeat sin and death FOR us alone, then we have missed the most amazing part of His mission... which is to live IN us, and to transform us. By living IN us He changes who we are, and paves the way for God to come back into us as well.