Seeking the Life in Christ

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Now That God Knows You

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

Galatians

November 6, 2024

Now That God Knows You

So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?

Galatians 4:9

Read: Galatians 4: 8-11

In this brief passage, Paul identifies two important principles of the life in Christ that we can use as barometers of our growth in Christ. The first is our awareness of how the performance-based-acceptance culture of our society can easily erode the freedom we have in Christ. Our culture likes to have checklists where we can mark off our progress as we complete various tasks. In a similar way, many people seek to have a measurement system for their life as a Christian. They have a checklist to mark off their tithe and attendance at church and their daily devotional exercises. Of course, tithing, church attendance and devotional activities are important in the life of a Christian, but they are never an end in themselves. We do these things to help us know Christ who loved us and gave himself for us, not to earn his favor or assure our right-standing with God.

The second principle is hugely important even though Paul made it as a parenthetical statement: “So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you)” (Galatians 4:9a). Paul does not mean that God simply knows about us, or even thoroughly knows everything about us, although of course He does. Paul means that God knows us within a covenant relationship. God knows me because He created me in His image. He has always known me, even from my mother’s womb. However, ever since I made my personal confession of faith in Christ Jesus, God knows me as His beloved child, with whom He is delighted and upon whom His favor rests. Because I am known by God, like the Apostle Paul, “I want to know Christ” and “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Philippians 3: 10,12).

My Takeaway: Paul is modeling the life in Christ. I noted on Monday that our salvation is only made possible by the faithfulness of Jesus. (Galatians 3: 23-29)

Our right-standing with God is initiated and maintained, moment by moment, by the faithfulness of Jesus. Therefore, my ambition is to be a fully devoted follower of the man of great faith, Christ Jesus. Paul charts the same course in today’s passage. Paul wanted to know God because God first knew Paul. That is my story also. I want to tightly grasp Jesus the Messiah who first took hold of me!

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life. The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

God Has Made You His Heir

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

Galatians

November 5, 2024

God Has Made You His Heir

And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”

Galatians 4:6

Read: Galatians 4: 1-7

I want to jump ahead for just a minute. At the end of Chapter Six, Paul makes clear that the ultimate purpose of God working through Jesus is to create the ‘new people of God.’ (Galatians 6:15) We become the new people of God when we are transformed to become like Jesus. I mention this because in the opening passage of Chapter Four, Paul reveals what I believe is the key to understanding how the transformation to the new people of God comes about.

In verse 7, Paul shifts from speaking in general terms, second person plural ‘we’, to speaking in specific terms, second person singular ‘you’. Paul moves from talking about ‘we’ and ‘us’ to talking about YOU. You are God’s child. You are God’s heir. I believe this is the key: your personal ownership of your new identity in Christ.

Many Christians believe the most beautiful passage of scripture is, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). However, that passage is just beautiful prose until you take personal ownership of the subject phrase ‘everyone who believes,’ and you affirm, I believe.

My Takeaway: Sometimes people tend to focus on the whole people of God, because they cannot imagine God caring for them as an individual. These people struggle with applying the promises of God to their personal life. However, God saves us one at a time, so that together, we can become the new people of God.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Monday, November 4, 2024

The Faithfulness of Jesus

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

Galatians

November 4, 2024

The Faithfulness of Jesus

And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

Galatians 3:29

Read: Galatians 3: 23-29

In this passage Paul speaks of before and after: “Before the way of faith in Christ, and “now that the way of faith has come” (Galatians 3: 23, 25). However, there is a bit of nuance in the Greek that makes this passage difficult to translate. I believe N. T. Wright comes closest to Paul’s intent when he renders these verses as,

“Before this faithfulness arrived”

and

“now that faithfulness has come.”

“The way of faith” can imply that it is our personal way of faith that means “we no longer need the law as our guardian” (v.25). However, in this passage, Paul is celebrating the faithfulness of Jesus, not our way of faith. Our salvation is only made possible by the faithfulness of Jesus. Our right-standing with God is initiated and maintained, moment by moment, by the faithfulness of Jesus. It will never be my ambition to be a man of great faith. I will always strive to be a fully devoted follower of the man of great faith, Christ Jesus. It is not my great faith I am interested in because I am possessed by the great faithfulness of Jesus and his passion for me. I love the way Paul puts this thought in Philippians 3:12 (NASB) “. . . but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.”

One of the fruits of my faith in the faithfulness of Jesus is revealed at the end of this chapter. Paul writes that when “you belong to Christ there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). This is not possible when you live by the law. This is reality when you live by faith in Christ.

My Takeaway: I am convinced that if Paul were writing this letter to the churches in our era, he would write, there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male, female, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Anglican, Protestant, or Catholic. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

God wants unity in Christ more than He wants denominations.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Friday, November 1, 2024

Heirs of Father Abraham

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

Galatians

November 1, 2024

Heirs of Father Abraham

But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.

Galatians 3:22

Galatians 3: 15-22

If we had been sitting in one of the Galatian churches when Paul’s letter was read, we, like our Galatian Gentile brothers and sisters, would probably be looking at one another and saying, “What in the world is Paul talking about?” Paul was using the heritage of Israel against the Judaizers, and we need to unpack that history a bit to catch Paul’s point. And what a point it is!

This episode in the life of the Galatian church is an example of how the Old Testament is only fully understood in the light of Jesus the Messiah. In Galatians 3:6-9, Paul interpreted Genesis 12 and 15 to reveal that from the very beginning of God’s covenant with Abraham, God intended to have one worldwide family, bound to Him eternally by faith. To be an heir of God’s covenant with Abraham, a person did not have to be born of particular parents, or in the nation of Israel; a person is reconciled to God by faith. Paul is saying that Abraham is the trunk of God’s family tree, and we who believe in Christ Jesus have been grafted into the family tree of God (Romans 11:17). Don’t pass over this too quickly. Take time to drink in what Paul is affirming here. Father Abraham is our father too. This means that King David was not just a Jewish King. He was our King. King David is in our family tree because we have been reconciled to God by faith, and we are a part of the people of God. Our family tree reaches all the way back to God making covenant with Abraham, “For Abraham is the father of all who believe” (Romans 4:16).

Paul also affirms that while the law of God cannot save us, its purpose is instrumental in our salvation. Sin matters and has huge consequences. Whenever we sin, we are investing our life, our time and our resources in something other than the Kingdom of God. The law reveals our sin so that we, the prisoners of sin, can receive God’s promise of freedom by believing in Jesus Christ.

My Takeaway: In a typical Sunday morning worship service, Christians affirm their faith in God by saying the Apostles’ Creed, which includes the affirmation that Jesus “will come to judge the living and the dead.” If you believe this, Paul’s affirmation about our being heirs of God’s covenant with Father Abraham is very Good News indeed!

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Thursday, October 31, 2024

A Matter of Life and Death

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

Galatians

October 31, 2024

A Matter of Life and Death

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing.

Galatians 3:13a

Read Galatians 3: 10-14

The general principle of the religious laws of Israel was that each provision was essential in working out a right relationship with the Almighty. No provision of the law could be compromised. If on the Sabbath you did everything perfectly, and then stooped to tie the straps around your sandals, you might as well have violated every provision of the Sabbath law. The result was the same; you were a sinner in God’s sight and in need of atonement. If you are trying to keep the law to please God, the only response according to Paul is to cry out, “Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” Of course, Paul also provides the answer: “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24-25).

In today’s passage, to make his case that Jesus is the answer, Paul used a provision of the law in Deuteronomy 21 that deals with capital punishment. That provision states a person convicted of a crime punishable by death and then executed and hung on a tree is cursed by God and must be removed from the tree and buried the same day. Paul is saying that Jesus took our place. Paul is saying that when Jesus “was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing” (Galatians 3:13). Paul is saying that Jesus is our answer because he rescued us from having to keep every dot and tittle of the law to earn a right relationship with God.

I love how Paul affirmed this truth in his letter to the Colossians: we have “died to this life, and (our) real life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).

My Takeaway: Our desire is to be in a right relationship with God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth: Thank God! Our answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

For God Is Working in You

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

Galatians

October 30, 2024

For God Is Working in You

Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ.

Galatians 3:2

Read Galatians 3: 1-9

Our culture differs greatly from that of the Galatians. Twenty-first century in the USA is referred to as post-Christian as most of the people in our culture do not believe in any gods, much less in the Christian God. Many Christians, while affirming their faith in God, see their faith as the way to a better quality of life.

In contrast to our culture, it was vitally important to the people in the Galatian congregations to be in a right-relationship with God. This was not optional to them. It is not hyperbole to say it was a matter of life and death to them. With this in mind, we can sense Paul’s frustration. Paul had proclaimed the Gospel to them, and the Galatian Christians had experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. They had entered a right-relationship with God by grace, through faith in Jesus. Then church leaders who came after Paul forced their congregations to keep rules and laws in a desperate attempt to stay in a right-relationship with God.

Seeking the life in Christ is hard work! On one hand, we rejoice that God loves us, unconditionally, just as we are. On the other hand, we know this marvelous grace of God does not give us a license to keep on sinning. We are called to crucify our flesh with its sinful desires. On one hand, we want to glorify God and live in a manner that others can see Christ in our mortal flesh. On the other hand, the witness of Christ within us comes by grace, not an accumulation of good works.

My Takeaway: Reaching a balance where our good works are evidence of God’s grace at work in our lives is an art more than it is a process to be learned. As we seek to release the graceful artist within us, we’ll do well to remember Paul’s words to his friends in Philippi: “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” (Philippians 2:13).

Trust God.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Christ Lives in Me

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

Galatians

October 29, 2024

Christ Lives in Me

I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Galatians 2:21

Read Galatians 2: 15-21

In this passage, Paul proclaims the foundation of the Christian faith:

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me”

Galatians 2:20b

As followers of Jesus, our life, our identity, is in Christ. The Jewish believers were initially shocked to find that God’s plan of redemption included the Gentiles. As they struggled to accept this ‘new’ salvation of God, they assumed that it would mean the Gentiles would be incorporated into the Jewish faith and customs. Paul then confronts them with the news that God is doing a completely NEW work in and through Christ. While the Jews were the first to hear the Good News, that did not mean a Gentile had to become a Jew to receive the Good News. Salvation is not about incorporating Jesus into our existing life. Salvation is about completely letting go of our existing life and immersing ourselves into New Life in Christ Jesus.

The Life in Christ we seek is experienced only after we have come to the place in our lives when nothing, absolutely nothing, but the love of God in Christ Jesus satisfies the longings of our soul. The only way we can come to that place is to first experience that our efforts in the flesh to satisfy our longings for love, acceptance and worth do not bear lasting fruit. The Apostle Paul contrasts the flesh life with the life in Christ as the difference between night and day, as between death and life:

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20

My Takeaway: “You’ll never know Jesus is all you need, until Jesus is all you have.” (This statement has been attributed to both Mother Teresa and Corrie Ten Boom) How do we get to the place that Jesus is all we have? Getting to the place where we are broken, clinging to nothing but Christ is the work of our sovereign God, and God alone. Our part is to trust where God is taking us and to keep our eyes on Jesus.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Now That God Knows You

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

God Has Made You His Heir

Monday, November 4, 2024

The Faithfulness of Jesus

Friday, November 1, 2024

Heirs of Father Abraham

Thursday, October 31, 2024

A Matter of Life and Death

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

For God Is Working in You

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Christ Lives in Me

Seeking the Life in Christ

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