WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? -- Devotional for March 10, from "Good Seeds"

CHRIST IN you, the hope of glory…If any man be IN CHRIST, he is a new creation… (Colossians 1:27; II Corinthians 5:17)

A Christian, by definition, is one in whom Christ dwells – “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” He is a “Christ-in!” But turn this coin over and you’ll see that a Christian is also and equally one who dwells in Christ: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation….” The moment we trust Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are in Him and He is in us. We are changed into His likeness, even as we receive citizenship into His kingdom. A new hymn, Power in the Blood (with the same title as the old hymn), has these beautiful words: “I love the blood! There is power in the blood, power that changes and frees us. I love the blood! When God looks through the blood, He doesn’t see me – He sees Jesus!” Although we still sin, God looks at us through “Christ-colored glasses,” and sees us as righteous. Indeed, He couldn’t look at us at all unless our sin stains had been washed away, for He cannot abide evil, nor can evil or evil ones stand in His presence, or withstand His holiness. All this being true, God is not naïve, nor is He blind to the fact that His redeemed ones still sin. But if it is the nature of a sinner to sin, should it not be the nature of a saint to “do always the things that please Him”? (a direct quote from the Bible, but it is speaking of just one man, the Man, Christ Jesus)! All men are sinners. When we receive the cross-work of Christ on our behalf all our sins, past, present and future, are covered and paid for. We are born again, with a new nature. But, we still live in these old bodies, and in this old world, assailed by that old devil and his minions, and so our tendency remains to sin. The main difference is, we have learned to hate it, we have learned to confess it, and we have learned who only can have the victory over it (Jesus!) And we see now what all men will see eventually, how sin desecrates all that is good, and destroys fellowship with all who are good. Only one sin – maybe not even a sin anyone else knows about yet, but just some unkind or ungodly thought or attitude lurking in the depths of our soul – can take us instantly and completely out of fellowship with both God and man, and plop us right back on the lap of our former father, the devil! And so I must remember not only WHO I am, a Christian, one in whom Christ dwells, but also WHOSE I am – one who is in Christ. I must not think of myself as in this world, in my career, in my family, or in my “groove” (doing my own thing, what I do best, or what pleases me the most!). No, as a Christian I am in Christ, as He is in me – and that is my only hope of glory, of joy, for now and forever!