Walking In The Truth Of Who You Are In Christ

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

—Galatians 5:25 (NKJV)

 

 

Many Christians have a great need to prove to themselves that they are worthy of God’s love. Before we knew Christ, we weren’t good enough. But God saw us worthy of His love. He saw us redeemable (John 3:16). He knew who we could be in Christ before we ever were His. When we called upon Jesus to be saved, we gave Him our life, and He gave us His worth. He gave us His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). We are worthy of God’s love because Jesus made us worthy.

 

You are born again and made new by the Spirit of the living God. Living in the Spirit refers to the new birth that takes place in our spirit when we believe by faith in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). But that doesn’t mean that we automatically walk in the truth of the new person we have become. Walking in the Spirit refers to how a believer needs to conduct his life. So Paul is saying in Galatians 5:25 if we are new in Christ and live in the Spirit, we should also walk in the Spirit.

 

Living in the Spirit is the new person we are in Christ, and it is an unchanging position. Walking in the Spirit is the result of knowing who we are in Christ, and it is conditional upon our minds being renewed and also upon our openness to the leading of the Holy Spirit. To know the new person that Christ has made us we need to be renewed in our minds by His truth (Romans 12:2). Then we will know and experience what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:3). 

 

Nothing that we do earns us acceptance by God. It is only by His mercy that we find ourselves holy and acceptable to Him (Romans 12:1). We have been reborn by His Grace and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13). Because of God’s great love, there is no condemnation for us who are reborn in Christ.

 

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:1,5, NKJV).

 

When we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the new person that we are in Christ, we learn the truths and promises of who we are in Him. When we believe those truths and promises, our perception changes from that of our flesh to that of His Spirit. And when we set our minds on the things of the Spirit, we walk according to the Spirit.  

 

God has made us new (2 Corinthians 5:17). We don’t always feel new. God says we are His (Isaiah 43:1). We don’t always feel that assurance. God says we are blameless, holy, and acceptable to Him (Ephesians 1:4). Our flesh tells us differently. It isn't only the enemy who condemns and tells us we are not worthy of God love. When our heart isn’t assured of its righteous position in Christ, we condemn ourselves instead of receiving the truths of the Holy Spirit (1 John 3:19-20). We can’t go by our feelings. The Spirit provides the truth of what can’t be seen. And the flesh will come against God’s truth every time. Even when we do not physically see or experience the truth of who we are in Christ, we can walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace,” Paul wrote (Romans 8:6, NKJV).

 

Walking in the Spirit (in the truth of who you are in Christ) is your choice. The things of the flesh (being ruled by our emotions instead of God’s truths) are death. The things of the Spirit (which come from a mind that has been renewed by the Spirit) are life and peace.

 

The Holy Spirit is always trying to reveal to us who we are in Christ. A perfect Savior has given us His righteousness. You are worthy because He made you worthy. Are you tired of living at the mercy of your feelings instead of living in the fullness of your identity in Christ? 

Draw a line in the sand, and determine that your flesh will not determine your feelings. Continually be renewed by God’s Word, and put on the truth of who you are in Christ (Ephesians 4:23-24). Take His truth as your own until you believe deep within what it says about you. 

 

Jesus became sin for us! Sin isn’t our master! Our feelings aren’t our master! Our symptons aren't our master. Our circumstances aren't our master! Jesus is our Master! Where sin, feelings, and flesh abound, His grace abounds more (Romans 5:20)! What a miracle of redeeming love! You walk in the Spirit by faith and not by sight.