2 Timothy 1:1
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according
to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus”
This is referred to as a greeting and often we read past the
“greeting,” to find the real meat of the book. If we do that, we will miss the most important messages to
us that are in Christ. And it is
so simple, life on planet earth has a design and a Designer, and in keeping
with that truth; the Designer has put into place a plan for us to live in
victory now, yes, right in the middle of this present darkness.
It requires us who are in Christ to stop trying so hard to
be followers of Christ and ask the Holy Spirit to explain what He is saying in
this greeting, in the second letter to Timothy. I ask this question, can you and I find life outside of Jesus
Christ? Well, can we, now do not
be so quick to answer, I have a big problem doing so, and often the quick answer
is the wrong answer, so lets ask the authority on life to see what He has to
say.
“Jesus said to them, “I am the
resurrection and the life. He who
believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes
in me will never die. Do you
believe this?” Jesus said life is found in Him,
He is life, and if you want life, that is what He has come to give to all of us
freely, and this life is for right now, and will continue in heaven. But there is a problem, and the problem
is unbelief, and Jesus spoke clearly that a liar and deceiver has come to keep
you from entering into life. John
10:10 lays out the battle to keep you from entering into life or more correctly
Christ. “The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have
life, and have it to the full.” How
is your life going, is it full, and if the answer is yes, what is it full of?
The Spirit of God put these words in a book we call the Holy
Bible, they are found in Ephesians 3:16-19, and in them is a prayer to the
Master Designer, the one who gives life, Jesus has the key to life, not in
heaven, but in the now. Beginning
in verse 16, “I pray that out of his glorious
riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in you inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and
established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how
wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love
that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the
fullness of God.” I
must ask one more question; If you are filled to the measure of all the
fullness of God, and God is life, is that life, the life Jesus is telling us
about in John 10:10?
Bill and Anabel Gillham were great teachers on “The Life” or
the “Victorious Christian Life” they know even more today, because they sit at
the feet of the Author of Life.
Let me share a few of what Bill called key concepts:
- God never allows a problem to come into your life for which He does not already have a solution.
- Birth always determines identity. All you have to do to go to hell is show up on the planet as a descendent of Adam.
- When you enter into Christ’s lifeline, you receive His nature (His spiritual characteristics) and His life. You receive a new present, a new future, and a new past.
- Your heritage from Adam is history. God had to do away with your old identity in order to give you a new identity. The old is crucified in Christ (Romans 6:6, Galatians 2:20), and you became a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
- Salvation is like a coin: heads is “Christ in you” and tails is “you in Christ.” The “you in Christ” verses outnumber the “Christ in you” verses 10-1.
- It is from the perspective of you are “in Christ” that you understand your true identity and realize that Christ is your life.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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