CHRIST IS YOUR LIFE - Part 4

Last post on this subject was on December 14. I left off with this paragraph and asking: 

You can see how it is evident that Christ IS our life, having provided for us by promising it, meriting it, providing it and bestowing it on us. But this, to me, doesn't really tell me all I'd want to know about the quality of the LIFE. It tells me THAT I have it. It tells me HOW I got it. I am prompted because of Jesus to give him THANKS for having secured life for me. But what is it to live this life?

Now, I hesitate to finalize my thoughts because I am not sure that I understand the answer. The previous three posts on Christ Is Your Life surfaced the problem of our not really seeing Christ intensely enough as an internal Savior. Maybe the best I can do for now is to reiterate the teaching of Scripture on this on allow the Holy Spirit to teach us what it means. I think Galatians 2:20 says summarily what we need to know: 

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

There is an identification here which goes well beyond a mere addition of salvation to our lives. God has completely closed the gap between Himself and man uniting us intimately through Jesus Christ. We learn that in new birth we first die -- to self, to sin's dominion, and to Satan's manipulative power. So, in a very real sense, any life that we think that we have has to be derived from elsewhere. Where? Paul makes clear that it is from "the Son of God." 

This means, it seems, that our lives are lived not by Christ leading us along a path like disciples, with Him in front, and we tagging along behind. True, we are disciples. Just not like that. Further, our loving Lord is not behind us pushing us where we are not willing to tread. Worse yet, we would do well to see that "Christ in you" means that our Father in heaven lovingly and willingly invites us into heaven. “It was the good pleasure of God … to reveal his Son in me” (Gal. 1:15, 16). No, He has so owned us, so saved us, so altered our lives that we become one with Him. It is possibly so good that we cannot "wrap our minds around it!" “But we all … are transformed into the same image from glory to glory as from the Lord the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). And, “For to me to live (is) Christ, and to die (is) gain” (Phil. 1:21).

I will leave this here, hoping that, as it has with me, so it will with you become an ongoing pursuit to discover what we already have in Christ. God help us to see more clearly.