What does it really look like to entrust your life to Christ? Have you counted the costs?
I believe that as humanity we have chosen to define good and evil on our own terms. Instead of living in oneness with God, we live by what is right and wrong in our own eyes. Entering through one man Adam, all humanity has suffered from a tainted bloodline. Out of this came destruction, strife, and chaos, only by an external source we must be released.
The LORD Jesus Christ, God in flesh, took upon himself the punishment of humanity. His blood stood in the separation that we made by our own sinful desires. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus allows us to live eternally free from the bondage of sin, and it is only in accepting Him we reap the benefits. If you become a follower of Christ you identify with him in his glory and in his sufferings… Because he died, you died. Because he lives, you live with him in victory.
So what does it mean to die and live in Christ?
Scripture says that as children of God we “live under grace”. This means that despite our shortcomings and mistakes, when we accept Jesus Christ’s atonement on the cross we have restored relationship with God. When He sees us, He sees the pure blood of Jesus, no amount of human effort can accomplish that. God does not want our works but our surrender, our trust not our perfection.
I have started a small group every Thursday called Open Space. The vision was to have a time of no expectations, simply trusting the Holy Spirit to move. Somehow I have started to trail away from that, trying to take matters into my own hands. I have been struggling not to care what other people think, and I have been attempting to define success myself. The Holy Spirit convicted me of this during worship. He lead me to cut short my plans and entrust the space to Him. Therefore, instead of a discussion we had worship, and for what was an uncomfortable amount of time to some people. But I had to trust that the Holy Spirit was working, and He does better than I could ever do.
This “new-life” in Christ takes full reliance on Jesus Christ. It takes a dying to our sinful nature, and a rebirth to the things of God. Any works that are our own plans are void, and any efforts that are by our own strengths fade. This is the hardest thing to release, yet the most freeing thing to accept. The Kingdom of God is truly an upside-down Kingdom, and as a city man walks in the country, so we walk in the world.
Every fiber of our being longs for this life, and following Jesus awakes it’s dormancy.
In light of all these things, I have a few questions to ask you.
Consider them as you will…
What have you not entrusted to Christ? In what ways are you relying on your own works?
Or if you have not accepted the sacrifice of Jesus, what is keeping you from doing so?
