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What does it mean that Jesus lives in me?

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:15-20)
I have read these verses so many time but Paul David Tripp has just blown me away with them how incisively he explains them in his latest book. Here is what he says :
Paul reminds us of something that we must always remember as we deal with the relationships, pleasures, and temptations of this here-and-now fallen world. If you are God’s child, you have been united with Christ. This is not just an amorphous spiritual reality but a physical one as well. All of what makes you you has been united to Christ. Your emotionality, your physicality, your mentality, your personality, your psychology, and your spirituality have all been united to Christ. This means that you take Christ with you wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Union with Christ means your life isn’t bifurcated. You don’t have Christ and the spiritual part of your life alongside of everything else. He is YOUR LIFE. It’s Christ in and with you in the most intimate, secret, and, yes, even dark moments of your life. He is united to every thought and desire. He is connected to every fantasy and choice. He is there during every action and reaction.. (Source : Sex and Money, 2013).
That is earth shuttering stuff! The nature of the Christ's union with me is not something I have considered at this deeper level. Though I have always known God lives in me, I have tended to see this as mainly spiritual. And yet Apostle Paul is so clear it is the total person in union with Christ. The entirely of our being has be won to Christ and Jesus now lives in my entire being.

All verses are now unlocked in a fresh way. For example in Romans 12:1 it says, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship". Here again it really is the whole body! And we can go on to quote 1 John and other passages. The point is the same - and the consequences are obvious.

Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2013

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