-The same place where these believers will experience this mind-blowing power - the inner man - is the place where Paul wants Christ to dwell. Actually he is asking and longing for Christ to be so welcomed into the hearts and lives of these believers that He settles down and makes Himself at home in their lives, not merely as some honored guest but as the new Owner Himself, Lord of the manor, King of my castle, a Divine Interior Redecorator, an ever-diligent House Steward and a very hands-on Landlord all rolled into one. I sign over the title, hand Him the keys (to every room in the house), and He gets free reign, the full and unrestricted run of the house. This goes hand-in-hand with the supernatural empowering.
-Imagine what this would look like, this heart of mine, a permanent residence of the King of kings, this One Who is pure and gentle and humble and full of mercy and Whose lovingkindness is everlasting. The idea is that if Jesus is making Himself at home in my life (which again is the work of His Spirit), if my heart is His temple, a place where the God of glory has caused His Spirit to dwell, occupying what used to be enemy territory, things begin to look different. And that is a gross understatement. But you take a look under someone’s roof, poke around their living room and their bedroom and their closets, and you learn whole lot about who they are, what they are like, what they like, what they value, what they do. I think ours will increasingly resemble a royal palace for a gracious and glorious King Who doesn’t mind sleeping without a pillow or even being homeless for that matter (cf Luke 9.58).
Now this marvelous and mysterious dance of ownership and stewardship and redecoration and power proceeds on the feet of faith. AKA trust. We trust and proceed in the assurance that He is, and that He is Lord. We trust that He really is there, or rather here, here in my life, in my heart, even when we typically neither see nor touch nor even hear Him. And we continue to trust, convinced that the changes He wants to and is making in (and through) my life are truly beneficial. He is a Rewarder of those who trust in Him (Hebrews 11.6), and His reward is great (Psalm 19.11; Matthew 5.12; Luke 6.35; Hebrews 10.35, 11.26).
-One immensely practical outcome of this inner empowering and divine indwelling is that in doing all this God lays a foundation of love in my life. His love, endless, selfless, giving itself away with no strings attached for me and for the nations. For God so loved the world - this is why He has done all He has done. He sent His Son, He let us kill His Son, He put our sins on His Son and punished them there, He raised His Son out of the dead, He returned His Son to His side and sent His Spirit into our hearts. Now (through faith in His Son) we are rescued, made fully right and forgiven, adopted into His family, and now His Spirit lives inside our hearts. All this God did because of His great love for us. How great is it? Next verse...
No comments:
Post a Comment