Trusting
Christ as Your Life
Dr. Bill
Gillham
The boss buzzed you on the intercom and told you to come to his office. He said that the report you had submitted for the quarter was unacceptable, and he gave you one week to rewrite it. That's the sort of hell on earth that Christ has saved you from. As you're sitting there with your heart in your throat, you're to think, Lord Jesus, I'm so glad that I don't have to do this rewrite. You are my life and this is Your baby. Thank You for saving me from this. You think that concept in a micro second. Then you say, "Yes, sir, Mr. Mulligan. I'll do my best. The problem will be fixed. You can count on it." Then you think, Whew, Lord! You really do have a problem here. I'm so glad that I don't have to do this rewrite. Yes! The burden is the Lord's!
Afterward, you burn the midnight oil, highly motivated as your hands sometimes fly over, sometimes labor over the keyboard of your computer, trusting that Christ is doing this report for you, through you on a moment-by-moment basis. Yes! You don't go fishing and wait till you feel the Spirit of Christ take over and carry you to the computer terminal. You go sit at the keyboard. You save the document to a working file and then begin the rewrite job. However, your faith is saying, "OK, Lord, where do we begin? I don't have a clue." This, my friend, is trusting Christ as life through you, by faith. Have you missed this piece in the salvation equation? Christ as life comes right along with the package that you acquired when you got saved. Many of us have trusted Jesus as Savior; we've trusted Him as Lord, but may have never trusted Him as life until we meet something which is absolutely beyond our ability. Trusting Christ as life is "[casting] your burden upon the Lord" (Psalm 55:22)-a command, not an option. God commands you to shove the burden of living on earth squarely onto the broad shoulders of your Savior and to keep piling it on Him moment-by-moment. Gang, this may sound like a cop-out to you, but it's normal. You were not saved to "carry your own weight." That is the devil's idea. Not only is this not noble, it is sin to carry your own weight! It's independence. God says, "Whatever [as in breathing God's air] is not from faith is sin" (Romans 14:23b).
Here's how trusting Christ to express His overcoming life through you works. Let's say that you have to get a fan fastened to the small frame on the ceiling by inserting three small bolts, using one hand to hold the bolt and the fan, holding the screwdriver in your other hand, and the two other bolts in your lips, while standing on a ladder wearing high heels (guffaw! just kidding). As you trust Christ as life, the first bolt lines up in the hole, but when you bring the screwdriver to bear, it slips off the bolt head, and you drop everything as you grab the fan with both hands. You think, Whew, Lord, we had tough luck on that one, but thank You for catching the fan. OK, let's try again. And the two of you go at it again. Perhaps it takes five or six tries to do the job, but you are having a time of camaraderie with Jesus Christ as the two of you work together to install a ceiling fan! That's pleasing to Him. That's a spiritual exercise. He longs for this sort of fellowship with you. He longs to build meaningful memories with you-just the two of you. This is the way you build a relationship with Christ! You and He can share some chuckles together over the battle that was won over those tiny holes in that crazy fan as you drive to work together the next day. Gang, this is the way you get to know Jesus Christ. This is the way you bond with someone. You don't have to wear a sandwich board proclaiming the end of the world in order to achieve this. This is the "normal Christian life" as author Watchman Nee called it. This is "lifting out" the metaphor of Jesus' being the vine and you being a branch. You experienced Vine-life while hanging a fan, by faith.
Philippians 4:13 I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.
Here's still another illustration of what it means to trust Christ to express His life through you.
Forgive me for getting personal, but we all know that testosterone produces a higher sexual appetite than estrogen. Sometimes the farthest thing from a wife's mind is to respond to her husband's sexual overtures. This can be a burden to both spouses, which Christ can deal with. The husband can think: Lord, I'd like to fulfill my desire, but if You want me to back off, that's OK. I leave this up to You, Jesus. You are my life, and You won't make demands through me.
On the other hand, let's say that the wife is thinking: Lord, You know that I am not the least bit interested in this, but Your Word says that my body is not my own. I realize that my husband needs me to respond to him. So I trust You as my life, even in this. And she begins to act interested, believing that Christ is her life. Obviously, it may work the other way around, with the Lord giving the husband the message that he is to wait till a more appropriate time.
Hey, we don't hang Jesus on a hook in the hall when we enter the marriage bedroom. Sex is God's invention, not Satan's. Look at it this way: The electricity is the life of my electric sander. The electricity doesn't sand the board. It is simply the enabler which allows the sander to sand the board. I'm certainly not teaching a menage a trois, that Christ is having sex with us! Christ is the Enabler here. Christ as life through both husband and wife is God's solution to all relational problems, including marital sex problems.
The Christian who fellowships with Christ as I've illustrated in these anecdotes in the past few devotionals will soon become fast friends with Jesus. Wouldn't it be highly unlikely that a person who lives like this would snap at the kids or rag on his spouse? Of course. The developing, intimate relationship with Christ would so delight and strengthen this person that he would want to habitually practice letting Christ express life through him to do God's will on earth. Isn't that great? You wouldn't be controlled by a bunch of rules and regulations, but by the inner life of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:2). The Holy Spirit of Jesus will long to obey God, yearn to, wish to, desire to and He will do all of this in you! That's right! This is what God means by saying that He has written His laws on our hearts and minds (Hebrews 10:16). This beats the daylights outta living under a bunch of rules or principles. It's the power-package provision of the gospel of Jesus Christ! Most Believers try to live their lives for Christ instead of doing it the biblical way? trusting Christ to express His victorious life through us.
Video Archive - Les Feldick Bible Study
(A 10 Minute Video)
Forgive me for getting personal, but we all know that testosterone produces a higher sexual appetite than estrogen. Sometimes the farthest thing from a wife's mind is to respond to her husband's sexual overtures. This can be a burden to both spouses, which Christ can deal with. The husband can think: Lord, I'd like to fulfill my desire, but if You want me to back off, that's OK. I leave this up to You, Jesus. You are my life, and You won't make demands through me.
On the other hand, let's say that the wife is thinking: Lord, You know that I am not the least bit interested in this, but Your Word says that my body is not my own. I realize that my husband needs me to respond to him. So I trust You as my life, even in this. And she begins to act interested, believing that Christ is her life. Obviously, it may work the other way around, with the Lord giving the husband the message that he is to wait till a more appropriate time.
Hey, we don't hang Jesus on a hook in the hall when we enter the marriage bedroom. Sex is God's invention, not Satan's. Look at it this way: The electricity is the life of my electric sander. The electricity doesn't sand the board. It is simply the enabler which allows the sander to sand the board. I'm certainly not teaching a menage a trois, that Christ is having sex with us! Christ is the Enabler here. Christ as life through both husband and wife is God's solution to all relational problems, including marital sex problems.
The Christian who fellowships with Christ as I've illustrated in these anecdotes in the past few devotionals will soon become fast friends with Jesus. Wouldn't it be highly unlikely that a person who lives like this would snap at the kids or rag on his spouse? Of course. The developing, intimate relationship with Christ would so delight and strengthen this person that he would want to habitually practice letting Christ express life through him to do God's will on earth. Isn't that great? You wouldn't be controlled by a bunch of rules and regulations, but by the inner life of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:2). The Holy Spirit of Jesus will long to obey God, yearn to, wish to, desire to and He will do all of this in you! That's right! This is what God means by saying that He has written His laws on our hearts and minds (Hebrews 10:16). This beats the daylights outta living under a bunch of rules or principles. It's the power-package provision of the gospel of Jesus Christ! Most Believers try to live their lives for Christ instead of doing it the biblical way? trusting Christ to express His victorious life through us.
Video Archive - Les Feldick Bible Study
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Believing
Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing
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