277. Live together with Christ
1 Thessalonians 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
Jesus died for us: because He did that we will live together with Him. This is the Gospel. We read or hear that Gospel message or we speak it to ourselves and the promise is realized: we live together with Him. By faith we are united with Christ in His death: our sin died the death penalty. By faith we were buried with Christ by baptism into death: our sinful self is dead and buried. By faith we rose with Christ into newness of life: the new man rises out of the water and lives. By faith we ascended with Christ and are seated in the heavenly places with Him: we sit with Him and rule over the defeated enemies. And we will come with Christ to judge at the end of the age: we receive the promised inheritance and enter into the joy of the Lord.
All too easily we drift away and forget what wonderful things Jesus has done for us, and we need to be reminded again and again that we are living together with Christ. Jesus Christ is our life and we are living with Him. When we aren’t feeling so good about life or things are not going so well we can return to this promise and remind ourselves that we are living together with Christ. And if so, everything will fall into place. Jesus Christ is always with us, just as He promised, but we easily forget, we act like we are alone, and we are unaware of His Presence. But is true whether are aware of it or not: “whether we wake or sleep” He is there.
To be honest, we don’t understand fully and we can’t explain it clearly, but it is still true and real: we live together with Christ. First, we live: we are alive with new life every day, and we look for God we will see Him present and active and living with us on a regular basis. Christ in us is life; it is truly living and enjoying God. As soon as we sin and remember sin we enter into death, and so we repent instantly and come back to the Life, for Life is always available in any and every circumstance. Second, we live together with Christ: it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. We don’t have to understand which one of us is actually doing the living at any moment, but generally speaking, if it is sinful, I am living myself alone, and if it is a good work, Christ is living. Either way, I live in a constant state of repentance and faith. Because Jesus died for me I am living together with Christ.