September 7, 2010
“Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine”, but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.” Galatians 2:20-21a The Message
Jesus: The Invisible One (The JesusLife Part 4)
There is a great open-secret to living the christian life. It is simply this: Christ has to live in your life. Everything that you are .. that you accomplish .. that you own .. is in Christ. It is no longer your strength that you try to muster up everyday in order to be a Christian. It is Christ who is the source of your strength. And then you begin living this life right where you are. That’s why it is an open-secret. Everyone around you gets a front row seat to your life. You can “try” to act better or “be” religious .. but without Christ as your source you will become exhausted and sometimes bitter on the inside. You’ll even try to blame the world around you for making life difficult. The inside-secret of belonging to Jesus is that you already know that the world you are living in is broken. You know it already because you were broken when He found you and began patiently and tenderly loving you. He had to because apart from God’s redeeming and restoring grace your life was/is fragile. Sin makes life brittle .. narrow .. and fragile. Without Christ you will fall to pieces. Without Christ you’ll just keep exchanging batteries and arranging the deck chairs of your life. But with Christ .. He becomes the source of your energy and He becomes the wardrobe of your life. To paraphrase some old friends: The most miserable life to live is the christian life without Christ. It is impossible. You cannot love unconditionally .. live lovingly .. and love living without Christ. You can try and maybe even sustain it for a long period. But you will eventually crumble with exhaustion. He is the Invisible One because you walk by faith .. and yet His life becomes very visible through your life to others. It is a daily walk of hoping .. believing .. trusting .. and following Christ. He will guide your steps today. He will give you the strength you need today. He wants to be the source of your real life today. It only takes a moment …
“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.” John 15:4 The Message
Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Open-Secrets following Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)
