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By Pastor Dennis Smith
Please visit Pastor Smith’s Website.
Christ Manifest in the Flesh
You are the temple of God and it is His desire to “dwell in you and walk in you” (2Corinthians 6:16). Jesus wants to live out His life in you. He wants to manifest all His virtues, character and obedience in and through you. If you choose to turn from your temptations and trust Him to manifest Himself He will. In fact, He will become so much a part of your mind and life that Christ through you will be once again manifest in the flesh; in your flesh.
“All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God, as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us.” Desire of Ages, p.668
These words describe those who are ready to meet Jesus when He returns. When obeying Him they will be simply carrying out their own impulses. Why, because Christ is fully manifest in and through them. Their life will be a life of continual obedience. Why; because they are allowing Christ to live out His life in them continually. This is the high and holy calling God is giving to you today.
This is not a call to try harder or put forth more effort to obey. It is a call to be filled with His Spirit, choose to obey Him in all things, and let Christ manifest Himself in and through you. When you say yes to His call and learn how to let Christ live out His life in you your Christian life will no longer be a burden. This is what Christ spoke of recorded in the gospel of Matthew.
“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your soul. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
An Illustration
Perhaps the following illustration, though imperfect, will help in understanding what happens when we daily experience the abiding of Christ in our life. Picture two pieces of cloth that are placed side by side parallel to each other. One cloth is white, which represents the Christian covered with the “white” righteousness of Christ though not 100 percent reflecting His character yet. The other cloth is saturated with liquid blue dye, which represents Christ. The blue dye symbolizes His character, likes, dislikes, virtues, etc. As the blue cloth comes into contact with the white cloth the blue dye liquid begins seeping into and through the white cloth. As long as they stay in close contact the white cloth will continue to become more and more blue. In time only blue is seen. The blue dye has completely saturated the white cloth.
In this illustration we see that the white cloth did not work at becoming blue. It simply stayed in intimate contact with the blue cloth. As pointed out previously, the same principle applies to us. Our part is to choose to stay intimately close to Christ and believe He will live out His life in us.
Though far from a perfect analogy this illustration somewhat represents what happens when we stay connected with Christ, and allow Him to live out His life in and through us. His life, character, virtues, etc. become more and more a part of our life. In time only Christ will be seen.
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