He is
Everything!
If then you have
been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above,
not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is
hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you
also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in
you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which
is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you
too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them
all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with
its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge
after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised
and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in
all. ~Colossians 3:1-11
I find in myself, beloved, the most horrible propensity to get my life from things other than Life Himself.
Do you ever do the same thing?
The very things I seem to have let go, seem to be the very things from which i am still trying to suck out the last little bit of life. The old man of flesh screams for its positions. It markets the propriety of fear. It promotes the sanctity of self.
Somehow, though, we know this is a lie. We know, rather, that that old man really is dead. We do not need to listen to the voice. It is but a phantom. We no longer need to default over to the horrible shortcuts to comfort we took in the past. We no longer need to have any tendency to fear be more important than trusting in the Author and Finisher of our faith. Said more simply: He is our Life. He does not enable our next breath. He is our very breath.
So, even when those closest to us lash out and feel the need to mock and hurt us, we can realize and live in this deepest of truths... We are not bulletproof. We are, however, aware that bullets are irrelevant. Yeah, we bleed when wounded. But even in our being wounded, the only thing that need pour out of us is the infinite Life of our Savior, for it is in Him that we Live and move and have our being.
So further, even in the hardest of the hardest times and places of life, we can simply stand in a state of profound righteousness, joy and peace - for this is all of and by Him. He becomes the force and focus of our very existence. He becomes our everything. And as He becomes the all in all of our existence, an immense strength begins to build in us.
It seems that in Him becoming everything that we might disappear. But this is where the mysteries of the Kingdom abound. It is in this nothingness, that we actually can take on our new identity. With none of us in the way, we are freed to be more and more like Him every day. And this is very good news. – Makala Doulos is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a new contributor to Freedom Fighter
Team YOU: 2 Samuel 23-24; Proverbs 25; Luke 20:20-26
Motivations: We become independent of our fear of social
judgment and the disapproval of men in proportion to our dependence on God. ~Paul
Tournier (1898-1986)
Practice to Remember:
Level 1:Ephesians
6:2-3; Level 2: Ephesians 5:15-21
Powered Up: Prayers perplexities are most often
camouflaged discoveries, there for the making. Donald Cranefield
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