And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
—Colossians 2:13-14
Life is life. I will have bad, mad, or sad moments. But I can’t go by what I experience in this world or the emotions I feel. Those moments and the feelings they bring are not the truth about my life. I choose to not live by what I feel. I choose to live by what God reveals is true for me in His Word. I choose to believe my unworthy sinful nature has been nailed to the cross and that Christ has given me His new life—His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).
This truth is not just for a moment. It is a state of being. I choose to believe the truth of who Jesus says I am. I have no reason to live by what I feel. I am new in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old me is dead, and that person can condemn me no more. Jesus has presented me without fault to the Father. That is not just a feeling. That is not just a moment. That is His absolute truth. And that moment where I was accepted and loved without measure took place over two-thousand years ago. That one moment in Christ’s life changed everything in my life. I have crucified living by my feelings. I choose to live by His faith (Galatians 2:20). I choose to walk by His faith and not what I see (2 Corinthians 5:7).
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4).
I was lost, but Christ found me. I was dead in my sin, but now I live in His righteousness. I was sick and broken in spirit, filled with fear and bitterness and recrimination, but now I am forgiven and healed and whole. I have no reason to live in shame. I have no reason to fear. Jesus, my living hope lives in me!
Christ has made me victorious. Evil will not prosper in my life. Each issue—lie—problem—failure—sin—that rises against me in judgment, He has already condemned and overcome. And He has given me His power with which to overcome. This is my heritage in Christ (Isaiah 54:17). Jesus—the Son of God, my Savior, my Righteousness, my Healer, my Provider, my Shepherd, my Peace, the Living Word—claims me as His own. I live no more. The life I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who gave His life for me (Ephesians 2:20). Jesus, my living hope, the living Word, lives in me. He is the truth by which I live and breathe and have life.
Christ has given me that one life-changing moment—the moment when in His death He became life for me. His moment of grace is now my state of being. His moment has become my life. Christ has chosen me in His unconditional love and grace. And by believing Him in my heart, I am called—I am justified by His grace and living in the faith He has given me. I am glorified with an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that will never fade away (Romans 8:30, 1 Peter 1:4).
Christ in me, the hope of glory, is true for eternity (Colossians 1:27, Ephesians 1:13).
© 2022 Lynn Lacher
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