(continued from last week)
Jesus did not claim to teach, work, or live on His own. “Rather, it is the Father living in Me. Believe Me when I say I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” (John 14:10-11) In the same way, we are not to live on our own. “Because I live, you will live… I am in the Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.” (John 14:20)
The apostle John later taught that life in Christ results in love… “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.” (I John 4:7-9) We are to live through Christ.
The apostle Paul was charged with the mission of proclaiming the gospel of Christ to Jews and Gentiles while enduring much suffering. The Father revealed a great mystery to Paul which points to the secret of living an abundant, God-centered life. Paul shared it with us.
“Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is His church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present the word of God in its fullness – the mystery that has been kept for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:24-27) Christ lives in us.
Jesus was tempted by Satan to operate apart from His Father, but He did not succumb. We are tempted to live apart from Jesus, but we must not fall into the traps of the enemy. The riches are in Christ… and He lives in us.
“My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in the body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is head over every power and authority.” Colossians 2:2-10