5th May 2020
There is a real difference between the follower who abides in Christ and the follower who has only incorporated Jesus into their life. One knows and has Christ as their literal source, while the other only knows Him as their resource. One can not know or have the Father as their source, until they have fully surrendered to God and you can’t surrender to a God you don’t really know or how right you have been made with.
To only know Christ as your resource, is to still have ‘you’ or ‘self’ as the source of your life, and this is a very limiting and crippling reality. Although one doesn’t really know God or know how right they have been made in God, they can still use the gift He has given to see things happen in their lives and the lives of others. This position is a very deceptive and one we must all be made aware of.
This becomes a problem because the pre-requisite for this abiding life in Christ, with God as your source, requires you to have lost your life.
John 12:23-26 And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
So instead of operating from fellowship/oneness of Spirit with God, you operate from gifting/function/outcomes, of what you are going to do for God.
If we have invited Christ into our lives for what He can do for us, then we have only incorporated Him into our lives and this position can not deny self. Only those who have lost their lives through fully surrendering their lives, have the power of the Spirit working within them, to now deny one’s self.
This is the follower of the wilderness’ posture and position in Christ, because He has become the source of this person’s life. One is able to fully love God and mankind the way God commands us to, because one has received the all in-compassing and overwhelming life of the Spirit. This position also has coming forth from it, the predestined works of the Spirit.
Q. Why is the incorporated position so dangerous to a follower of Christ?
Q. What does this incorporated position limit you to?
Q. How powerful is the abiding in Christ as your source position?
Q. What life does this position produce in us?