Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Trusting God”
Our Bible verse for today: “Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you …?” 2 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “Jesus lives in you and through you.”
I once read a statement which at first troubled me, then it intrigued me, and finally it excited me. It was many years ago and frankly, and I can’t even remember the title of the book or who the author was, but I do remember the statement. It went like this, “Jesus lives in you and through you. Therefore you have a shared life with Christ.”
I share a life with Christ? Seriously? How can that be?
As I studied the question I discovered that Biblically that statement is true. It’s what the Apostle Paul was referring to in his second letter to the Corinthians when he asked them that question in 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you?”
The idea of a “shared life”, Christ living in and through the lives of His followers, was a favorite theme of Paul’s and he returned to it frequently in his writing:
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” 1 Corinthians 6:19
“For in Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
There are many other examples and therefore I could go on, but you get the point. At the time of salvation Jesus placed the Holy Spirit inside of your heart. Then, as you surrender your life fully and completely to Him, Jesus works in you to change you, and through you to accomplish His work in this world. The more fully surrendered to Him you are to Him, the more of Him there will be in your life, and the less of you.
This does not mean that you and I are in anyway divine, we are not. However it does mean that Christ lives in you by means of the Holy Spirit. He then uses your life for His purposes, and you get to participate in His life. That’s why the church is known as the Body of Christ on earth and it’s why individual believers are identified in the Bible as being a part of the Body of Christ.
What does all of this have to do with trusting God? Well, you can trust God to work out His purposes in and through your life. If Jesus is living in you and through you, it is in His own interest to enable you and empower you to accomplish the things that He wants done. The more fully surrendered you are to Him, the more that will happen. You can trust Him to bring about His purposes in your life because He is in you, and you are in Him, and together you are working to accomplish a common purpose.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 