Romans 8: 10 “But if Christ is in you, then even though your body
is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of
righteousness.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is
here!”
John 14:20 “On that day you
will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you”
I have read many times over how people interpret the fact we should
not have those “if” there in front of those sentences such as Romans 8 and 2
Corinthians 5. I am always excited when I read those who understand why these “if”
should be there and I know them too, have been touched by God personally.
There is a pastor that I really like, he died a few years ago. I do
listen to his commentary of the Bible. While this pastor had enough knowledge
to have a very good commentary, he said this if should not be there because the
minute we accept Him, we are all in Him. But, this pastor was half right. While
he loved God but, there are certain things we cannot know the depth or the
meaning of them unless the Spirit reveals them to us. While most Christians
fight those “if” we have in the Bible, but they are all there for good reasons.
This pastor was half right because the first time, I experienced what it meant
to be “in Christ” it was so awesome. After the height of the experience had
subsided I remember having a conversation with the Holy Spirit about it. This
is what I take away. If we truly accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour through
an encounter with Him, of course we are in Him.
I have seen so called Christians making excuses for their
stubbornness, hard heart, dull conscience, and the fact that they are incapable
of changing after decades of calling themselves Christians. They do not think
there is anything wrong with this type of mindset. In fact one of them whom I
was forced to talk to because the Holy Spirit made me told me “I know I am a
sinner and I am not perfect, but I know my father loves me and His grace will
take me to Heaven.” I was shocked because this person has been claiming to
be a Christian for about six decades. It is okay to hear someone who just
received Christ utter those words because you know they are a work in progress
and in due time the Holy Spirit will enlighten them. But when you hear those
words coming out of people who only have a few years to live out on this earth,
while they have claimed to be Christians all their lives, then you know they
have been duped and defeated by Satan. You know Christianity has never been
made real to them. Christians with this frame of mind and such defeated
attitude have no idea what it means to be a child of God. As Children of God,
there are certain expectations from us. (See 1John 3:2-3) these types of
Christians are amongst those that Paul calls swindler and idolaters. They
idolize themselves, they are fraudster when it comes to Christianity and they
slander God’s name.
One of the beauties of growing spiritually while being taught by Him
is the reality of each single word in the Bible is there for a reason. God did
not say words like we find in Romans 8:16-17 to fill up blank spaces. “The
Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…”
I found even with the gift of discernment most of the time God shows
us people whom He wants us to pray for. (By the way, there is a very good
explanation of the gift of discernment by Oswald Chambers from March 31
devotion, take time to read it if you can.) The rest of the time, He is telling
us that it is not our business or He blocks us for reasons we might not know. 2
kings 4:27 “…..“Leave her
alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it
from me and has not told me why.” So, the apostles and the prophets knew it
very well that there are things that God simply do not tell us. If you take a
closer look at 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 Paul
said to us: “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually
immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are
immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have
to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not
associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually
immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do
not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those
outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will
judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”
Please note that Paul’s exhortation was not just for sexually
immoral Christians. It is equally important what Paul mentioned about the offender
in verse 5: “hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of
the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.” He did
not mention his soul and body. These are sombre words that we cannot afford to
close our eyes and act as if we do not say them outloud they will go away. We
are not to take anyone’s explanation on these words just because they make us
feel better or that they are more acceptable. We need the help of the Holy
Spirit to decipher those warnings because they concern our own souls. Paul
could have easily said here, hand the man over to Satan because the way he is
behaving is not conducive to someone who is in Christ or a child of God. Why
Paul would make such a drastic statement about the man to be given back to
Satan? Read what he said in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that
wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God kingdom of God
So, Paul knew very well, if indeed this man was in Christ,
eventually through God’s grace he would find his way back in Him. But, if he
could not find his way back to live as a child of God like we are told in 1John
3:2-3, then one must assume this so called Christian has a major problem or God is a big liar and
Salvation has no power and His Word is meaningless. Granted God did not
show me the full spectrum of the implications of living this life in Him. But,
as I studied at His feet He taught me this word “if” is there for good
reasons and we are wise to pay attention. What I studied with Him, at His feet,
I have no interest in conferring with flesh and blood to find another meaning
to suit someone else’s explanations just because of their earthly titles.
As I experienced what it means to be in Him, He taught me I can reap the full
benefits of being in Him now because I have a different attitude and a
different frame of mind. This reference He made about my new life found in Him,
I knew exactly what He meant. I stopped fighting the Christian life, and I
stopped trying to do it on my own. I had voluntarily made the decision to
surrender to the Holy Spirit works in me. I had made the decision that He was
going to become my life. I yielded to the Word of God and I felt the need to
bring harmony between what I have been reading in the Bible and my life because
I was yearning to let Him become all that there is of me. I reasoned to myself
and I knew if I believe His word is true, then I must act like it, I must
change my way and live according to what is true to the faith I claimed that I
possessed. I wanted to understand from the depth of my heart what makes someone
like Paul said: for me to live is Christ and to die is gain” because it was not
enough for me to just repeat it like parrots. That was the frame of mind He was
referring to.
From what I experienced, the only way I can explain in my own words
what this frame of mind He was referring to meant, is that my new attitude
toward my Christianity acted like an agent if you will, to activate what was
seemed to be “dormant” or perhaps neglected or ignored. It was like I finally
took the steps needed to take possession of my inheritance in Him.
