This mystery has been kept in
the dark for a long time, but now it’s out
in the open. God wanted everyone,
not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret
inside and out, regardless of their
religious background, regardless of
their religious standing.
The mystery in a nutshell is this:
Christ is in you… Colossians: 1 16-17
I’m definitely not athletically blessed. I took tennis lessons while I was in college and we had a lot of male spectators. I (foolishly) thought they were admiring our expertise on the court. Hardly! They were ogling our short shorts! But I do know the names of some famous people: Troy Aikman, Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, Roger Federer. I guess I enjoy watching Tiger most of all. It’s amazing how he keeps his focus and his confidence is astounding.
I tried my hand at golf early in our marriage–it was that or divorce! What a spectacle I made of myself. A too-tight skirt; missing the ball on the tee three times and then spinning it about two feet with swing #4. Bill wasn’t the only one laughing; some of my fifth grade students were there laughing hilariously and all of the other participants in the “Scotch Foursome”–they were all laughing! You talk about “wanting to get away!”1
I was reading some thoughts from Andrew Murray2 the other day. This quote caused my attention span to increase markedly:
“Christ’s life is altogether too high and too divine for us to reproduce. It is His own life, and only His, but He will live it out in us.”
How silly it would be for me to try to emulate Tiger and do what he does! His skills are much too honed for anyone to think they could “play golf like Tiger!” There’s only one way that could happen–if Tiger could occupy my body for a few holes at the Country Club!
Do you see what I’m saying? It is just as foolish for us to “try to live like Jesus!” I know, we’re commanded to be perfect “as He is perfect, to forgive as He has forgiven, and love as He loves.” Have you tried to do that? Impossible! It is only HIS LIFE within us that can accomplish the impossible–and His Word tells us that “He lives in me” for just that purpose.
So how do I take advantage of that? I quit saying, “Help me, Lord” and instead say, “No way can I do this, Lord. You have to do it through me!” Then, BELIEVE that He tells the truth. Step aside and let Him show you how it’s done. Easy to say, very difficult to do. But He expects that of us. He wants the spectators looking on to be astounded at our expertise and corner us after the match and say, “How in the world did you do that?” And we can (with great confidence) reply: “Oh, it wasn’t me! Christ lives in me to face every situation for me.”
Does that mean that I’ll come through unscathed and victorious every time? No. It means that I will be learning every day to “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.”3It means that the fruits of the Spirit4 will be evident in my life, it means I will eventually perform His way–with Him doing His thing through me.5
1 Southwest Airline’s slogan
2 Andrew Murray was a well-known religious man of the nineteenth century. He spent long years speaking the truth of God in south Africa and his insights have continued to spread around the world through his writings.
3 II Chronicles 20:17
4 Galatians 5:22-23
5 John 15:5a