Christ in You—an Incredible Promise

Here is something to think about during the downtime of “pandemic time.” Many of us have some extra time to reflect on our lives and our relationship with God. This can be very productive spiritual time, and I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to slow down and commune with God in whatever way you understand Him at this point. Let me nudge you to reflect on the incredible promise of the Gospel that Christ will dwell in those who follow Him.

In a letter written from the Apostle Paul to new believers in ancient Corinth, there is a key verse for our attention: “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?” (II Cor. 13:5b, NRSV) I am grateful for this strong assertion that the Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified in the weakness of human flesh, now lives in the Resurrection power of God—in us! Jesus promised that He would come to us in the Spirit and would dwell in us, and Paul affirmed it to be true.

Paul raises the question in this chapter with an incredulous ring: “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?” I suspect many would say, “Well, no, I don’t realize that. How can that be?” Paul asserts that this is unrefutably true in saying, “For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” (II Cor. 13:8, NIV).

The truth is that Jesus promised He would return in the Spirit to be with us and even in us. Read Jesus’ promise in the following verses from John 14: 15-18 (NIV):

If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Jesus promised to send the Spirit of Truth and then identifies Himself with the Spirit—saying “I will come to you.” He told His disciples that they already knew this Spirit that He would send—that he was already living with them. He then promised that He would personally come to them and live in them.

Maybe that sounds well and good for the disciples, but you may wonder how this can mean that He has promised to dwell in you as well. We know that it includes us because of His prayer on the night before the crucifixion, when He prayed for the disciples and then prayed the same wonderful things for those who would come to believe in Him through the witness of his disciples (John 17:20-23). That means us!

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

So, the Gospel truth is that I am weak in Christ, but He is powerful in me. I come to Him in my weakness as a flawed child of God, in confession and repentance; and He comes to me in the power of Resurrection Life. His life builds me up and strengthens me to build up others, even while I am still in formation myself. Though I am still unfinished and in process, the Spirit of Christ is working through me. Though I am imperfect and will always experience flubs, flops and failures, I am being renewed and restored all along by the Perfect One. It is an amazing gift of God’s Grace.

Paul urged the Christians in Corinth to examine themselves (II Corinthians 13:5), and that we must do that as well. All that he named in the previous chapters as sin must be removed from our lives and our faith community as we grow more and more to be truly the people of God that our Lord Jesus Christ calls into being—to dwell within. As Paul said, our prayer should always be for improvement, aiming toward perfection—for ourselves and our church. Our work should always be to build up and not tear down. We need to especially build up our faith to affirm that Christ comes to dwell within us! We are the temple of God today! Thanks be to God for His amazing gift!

Lord Jesus, thank you for coming to us in the power of love when we came to you in our need. Help us recognize your power at work within us to build up and improve our life in you, individually and in our church. Lead us to mend our ways, cooperate together and live at peace in the love of God. May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and forever. Amen.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.