Where does God reside?

 Colossians 1:27-29

“To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

If you are not mentally dull or intellectually lazy, you can explore this question, where does God reside?  Many will be quick to answer in Heaven, and we have Scripture to support that answer, in 1 Kings 8:49 and in Matthew 6:9, but is that the whole truth?  If we return to 1 Kings 8:27, we have a God that cannot be put into a heaven box.  “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!”

The Apostle Paul gives us some exciting news in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?”  As followers of Christ, we are called the Church, it was never a building, but where two or three believers in Christ come together for study and worship.  Now that is personal and has to do with relationship, God’s Spirit living in you.  The Church is being built together as a dwelling place for God by the Spirit, and that is found in Ephesians 2:22.

Now it gets real exciting as we explore what took place when by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross, we have entered into a relationship with God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  The Apostle Paul gives this insight in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  Scripture refers to the believer being "in Christ" (1 Peter 5:14; Philippians 1:1; Romans 8:1).  Colossians 3:3, "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."  My friend, Bill Gillham would state this is a Key Concept – It is from the perspective of who you are “in Christ” that you understand your true identity and realize that Christ is your life.”

It is also paramount that you figure out what took place when you entered into Christ and He entered into you.  Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Nowhere does the Bible state you will never sin again, it does not claim life will be a bowl of cherries, in fact, it says that you will sin, and you will have troubles, but Jesus tells us He has overcome, and He is all we need.  If you depend on how you feel you will live as a defeated Christian, but if you look to Jesus and obey His teaching you will be living above your circumstances.

I’ve found it wise to often do as 2 Corinthians 13:5 admonishes me to do, and it also applies to all who are followers of Christ.  “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice