Living the Christian Life...NOW.

"Jesus is all and is in all" Colossians 3:11

Do you know your sins are forgiven? Do you know you will go to heaven at the moment of your death?

When I am in a church for the first time or addressing a group of believers I have just met, I often begin the meeting asking these two questions. What a joy it is to hear Christians affirm that their confidence in Jesus is greater than their sins and their death. The great majority of churches are very clear on forgiveness in Christ and on going to heaven by God’s grace in Christ.

The third question I ask is "Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that a perfect life lives in you right now?" The response is significantly less affirming. The word "perfect" catches people by surprise. Most of us have not been trained to begin our thoughts about our current reality from perfection that abides in us.

As believers, we are trained to think of Jesus' perfect death for us and we are trained to think of that perfect place He has prepared for us in heaven. Thank God! Our past and our future are perfected by Jesus’ perfection...

I believe we also need to be trained to awaken each day in the perfect presence of Jesus in us. If not, we will be miss the perfection that is the Christian life. We will miss the perfection of Jesus that takes care of now.

How much of the Christian life to you wake up with each morning. Some? A lot? All of it? How much of the Christian life do you think other Christians have? More than you have? Some of that which you have?

The Christian life abides in every believer from the moment of new birth. Christ in us is the perfect Christian life. Jesus is the Christian life and He is being that perfect life in all of us right now.

The question is not if we all have the perfect life. The question is "if" we are responding to His perfect life right now. Are we abiding?

The word "if" is a powerful word in discipleship. Read the Gospel of John and mark all the times you see the word "if". There are no "ifs" about who or what Jesus is or can perfectly do for all of us. There are a lot of "ifs" about how we will respond to the perfect Christian life that Jesus is being for all of us right now.

Do you awaken each day to the reality that the entire Christian life you will ever live or ever need to live is in you? If not, when you awaken each day put your hand over your heart and say these simple words "Jesus, you are welcome here!"

The perfection you need to deal with now is Jesus and he is all and is in all.