Christ living in us

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

If Christ is living in us, the motto of our life cannot be the same as earlier. The emphasis is given to “I am crucified and I no longer live” which means, all our desires, ambitions and plans are dead and buried making way for a newer person to start executing His plans. The previous verse says that through the law, we are dead to the law so that we might live to God. We are not reporting to the law or the law keepers but to the law maker who has started a direct relationship with us. The law was not an unnecessary commitment to us, it lead us to Christ so that we could die to it and move towards a higher commitment that is directly to God. This commitment is not partial, but complete. Live to God is living to only serve the purpose God has in us.

First, Paul removes the authority of men who condemn, then the law and finally the self (I). The law was there to correct me so that “I” would live. Now on, it is Christ being the one to live and so, the law has no authority on me as it does not fulfill the real purpose. The crucifixion puts to death the “I” along with every condemnation this “I” carried. So, we are free from condemnation only if we are living to God. This living to God is being available for the personal make over by God.

John 14:18 is an important promise that again mentions the purpose of our existence. Jesus comes to us so that we are not orphans. This is a guardian and mentor’s role He is taking. Jesus emphasizes the fact that we are orphans if He is not residing in us. This is in the same context as Jesus is the truth. Every other direction is a lie and we may feel comforted, but we still are orphans. The apostles had forsaken their lives and so, they were scared for real to live without Christ. It is important for us to have a similar dependency towards Christ to understand that Christ is the truth.

In 14:19, Jesus mentions that these people who love Him and are supported by Him will be the only ones who can see Him. The world cannot see Jesus because there is no love there. Intelligence does not go in sync with seeing Jesus. This vision of Jesus is not just salvation, but an understanding that Jesus is happily living in us and this would make us want to live more. We would survive for Jesus to manifest Himself.

Then, on that day when we see and live for Jesus, we would understand that Jesus is completely inside His Father and performs His will only. We who love Jesus are protected inside Jesus and we do what His will is. We also understand that Jesus lives inside us so that we protect His life inside us. This is our responsibility as much as God the Father fully authorized Jesus to rule His kingdom; we should allow Jesus to rule us. The relationship between us and Christ is mutual and closely inter-depending. We limit our lives inside Christ and receive everything from inside. This relationship can be understood only when there is tremendous love. This is again mentioned in John 17:23 where we declare to the world that we live in Jesus if we are one with unity and through that, we show that we have the Father’s approval and love.  We receive the Father’s presence inside us only when we love Jesus and keep His commandments. The Father sees this as our love towards Him.

According to 2 Cor 5:17, salvation and regeneration happens only when we are inside Christ. Our boundaries are Christ Himself and this submission changes us. Our happiness, riches and everything else would be in Christ. And Paul commands here, “behold” everything is new. We cannot be changes unless we cautiously listen to the Christ inside us for regeneration.

1 Cor 3:16 and many other verses point to the fact that we are temple of God. A temple is not just another house, but a very distinct one. This is set apart for a single purpose that God would live there. A temple hosts only persons who are there to worship or renew their relationship with God. It is being built and maintained with reverence more than plain houses. A temple is distinct in looks.

In Eph 3:16-19 we read that Jesus dwells in us so that we will be firm in love and truly understand the love of Christ. This love passes all knowledge and we are gifted to know this along with the saints. This dwelling in us is the riches of His glory. Christ is not seen in the world, but the world should see Christ and the Father’s love through us. For this all the riches of His glory has been poured upon us as Christ lives inside us. This is again mentioned in Colossians 1:27. This should be the nature of ministry we do. As per Mathew 10:40, people receiving us should receive Christ himself and not the self.

The benefits are seen in Acts 9:5, we see Christ defending us as He is hurt when we are hurt. It mentions that we are goads that push others into salvation. Our life hurt others into salvation. If they hurt us, it hurts them back and God would be there to defend us.

According to 2 Cor 13:5, we are disqualified if Christ is not in us. We are thrown away from the race at any stage if this basic condition is not met. Christ living in us is not a gift or choice. This is a condition that we need to forsake all our desires and plans and let Christ take over.