Christ Living in You

If, indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

—Ephesians 4:21-24 (NKJV)

 

 

You are a child of God. You are a new creation in Christ. You are reborn by His Spirit. Your old man is dead. He is no more (2 Corinthians 5:17). However, do you believe that you have lost your right standing with God because you still deal with the struggles of your flesh? You haven’t. We can’t change the temptations that come against us. But when we know and believe who we are in Christ, we have His power to overcome them.

 

To overcome temptation with the power of the Holy Spirit, you must believe the old sinful man you were has been crucified with Christ and that it is not you who lives but Christ who lives in you (Galatians 2:20). 

 

When you live by the Spirit, you eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised you (Galatians 5:5). To believe the righteousness that is yours in Christ, your mind must be renewed by God’s truth. When your mind is renewed by the truth of your new nature revealed in God’s Word, you conform to the righteousness that is yours in Christ (Romans 12:3, Ephesians 4:23, 2 Corinthians 5:21). When you live by faith the truth of your new life, you live the righteousness He has given you. You put on who you are in Christ (Ephesians 4:24). You put on His righteousness and power. You defeat the daily temptations to sin that come. You become new in the motive and attitude of your heart.

 

Your new nature is your true identity in Christ. In Today’s English Version Ephesians 4:24 reads, “And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” 

 

You cannot make yourself new. You have been purchased by His precious blood and reborn by His Spirit. Christ has given you the righteousness of God. This is your new nature. Be renewed in your mind and the attitude of your heart to know yourself as God knows you in “true righteousness and holiness.” Clothe yourself in your new identity. It was created “after the likeness of God.” As Christ is so are you in this world (1 John 4:17).

 

Don’t dwell continuously on the temptation that comes against you. That temptation will consume your mind. Your old man will feed off the thought of it. Put off the old man who corrupts. Learn in the Word who you are in Christ. Be continuously renewed in the spirit of your mind by the truth of your new identity—the righteousness Christ has earned for you. Clothe yourself in His righteousness until the Holy Spirit convinces you that the old sinful person you once were has been crucified with Christ. Then it will no longer be you who lives, but Christ living in you.

 

Christ in you is your hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

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