17. Christ Is Always Personal

 

The greatest truth of our salvation is that Christ not only became our sin upon the cross, but much more than that, Christ became us as we live our present lives. This truth is more glorious and filled with joy than anything we have ever heard.

For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Romans 5:10

Consider that. When Jesus took us into Himself into His death upon the cross, we were the enemies of God, openly hostile against – at war with God! Yet the fact that we were utterly in our sins and condemned to death did not prevent the Lord Jesus from taking us into Himself anyway. Jesus became our sin upon the cross.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

But Paul says in Romans 5 that our reconciliation to God through the death of His Son, even when we were enemies, is just the first part of the whole package.

MUCH MORE – we are saved by His life.

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Colossians 3:3-4

There is no question that Christ is the only life inside of us and that we are, right now, His life living as us. Christ is always personal.

There is no “Christianity” outside of the Person who has become our Life, Christ Jesus. No ideas about Him, no theology or doctrine, no “trying to be like Jesus.” Just the Lord Jesus Himself, living as us in this world, filling our hearts with His glory. Christ is always personal in us.

But Christ is also all that God speaks; He is the Word always coming out of God. And thus the Always-Speaking-of-God becomes the Word Himself made personal in us.

 John says in his gospel that the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Grace and truth are something other than the law.

We must understand that the law is all that is about God separate from the revelation of Christ personally in me and in you. Even Jesus, separate from me is not the truth for me. He becomes truth for me as He Himself is resident and personal in all that is me.

But in this world and in the church there are ten thousand other voices crying, “Hear me, hear me; I have the truth you do not have.”

But if I have Christ in me, I have in me all the revelation of God, as do you. And all of His ways concerning me are perfect; therefore what He has worked in me right now at this moment is perfect for me for this moment.

Then I draw from Christ in me and share with you Him personally through me.  And you draw from Christ in you and share with me Him personally through you. Thus we build one another up in the Lord.

Here is a most difficult truth for all Christians. If Christ is living as me – if He is my only life – then He MUST also be living as all other believers in Christ, He MUST BE their only life. Yet all, including you, are VERY different from me.

God is very large and there are many people in His kingdom. How can Christ be in me in the present moment and not also be in all other believers in their present moment even though they are so utterly different from me?

Most Christians simply do not believe that anyone who thinks or acts differently than they do could possibly be “Christ” Himself. Thus they spend all of their energy attempting to convince others to “agree” with them, trying to replace the revelation of Christ with ideas about God.

It is Christ personally in and through you that God would have you share, not a bunch of ideas about God or about your revelation. There is a difference. At no point do we attempt to “convince” other people to “agree” with us or to do what we do. If we practice that unbelief, we ourselves do not understand Christ. Christ is a life to be shared from one heart to another, not a club to beat on people who see things differently from us.

Every single person on this earth sees things differently than you and I do. That is God. And God reveals Himself through each one that is His as they are and in the place to which He Himself has brought them with no reference to you or me whatsoever.

Here is what it comes down to for me. All of my life, God has carried me in the grip of His determination. He has taken me through specific circumstances designed entirely by Him to teach Christ to me, personally. Through all those years, He has caused me to learn His word from beginning to end, and He has given me the keys of understanding He wanted me to have.

That brings me to the present moment. Here is what God has convicted me of. I am not responsible to God and I will not give answer to Him for Christ revealed in you. But I am responsible to share that measure of Christ that He has made real in me.

Because of the condition I carry, Asperger’s Syndrome, that I have already shared in these letters, what other people say and think very often overwhelms me, especially those who move in some sort of religious authority. But understanding that condition has changed everything for me. The overwhelming emotions are still there, but I know now to put them in their place.

I have asked God for the power to share all that Christ is in me, and all that He has taught me through His Word, with you, unhindered by shadow and without reference to anything anyone else might be saying. I believe that I have received that power. Yet I never think that I am sharing “the truth for you.” No, I am only sharing the glory of Christ as He reveals Himself through me. Only what He Himself quickens to you becomes Him in you.

I have always been convinced that Christ is personal, and that if He is not personal through me, it is not really Christ.

And when I read what others write, if I cannot see them in what they write, I am not really seeing Christ. I may “agree” with the “ideas” presented, yes. But Christ is in you; He is not in a bunch of ideas. Only when you are sharing yourself with me are you sharing Christ. I don’t really want to know about your “revelation” per se; I want to know Christ shared personally through you.

And then, revelation that comes personally through Christ through you, becomes life and joy as you share with me. It is actually the motive of the heart, His expression through you. 

It was Paul who shared with the church the revelation of Christ made personal in us. And what was Paul’s most frequent subject? Himself. Take any letter Paul wrote and see how many times he says, “I, me, mine, we, us, ours.” If you count them, they almost equal the total number of verses in that letter.

Christ is always personal; if it’s not personal, it cannot, really, be the sharing of Christ. And the same is true with what I share. Christ may speak personally to you through one thing I say, but other things I share do nothing for you. That’s as it is. Christ is personal to you, not some ideas I happen to write down.

And I need Christ shared through you. I need to see you, the real you, free and released with no worry about “mistakes” or “imperfections.” And when I see you, I see the Lord Jesus.

And so my life, my story, is very much the great story of God, for my life is Christ, the story God Himself is telling.

And your life, your story, is also very much the great story of God, for your life is Christ, the story God Himself is telling.

Christ is always personal, Jesus, living as us in this world, filling our hearts with His glory.