"Christ lives in me." Can you say it? Paul could. But note the order of his words. First, "I have been crucified with Christ," then "Christ lives in me" The dethronement of self precedes and makes way for enthronement of Christ. To be a Christian is to have Christ the Life of our life in such a way and to such a degree that we can say with Paul, "for me to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21). This means that Christ lives now in you, wherever you are, as truly as He ever lived in Capernaum or Cana. Does He do it? To be a Christian means to have the divine seed that was planted in our innermost spirit at the new birth blossom out into growing conformity to His perfect life. It is to be daily "changed into His image from glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18). Are you being so changed? To be a Christian is to have Christ the Life of our minds, hearts, and wills so that it is He who thinks through our minds, loves through our hearts, and wills through our wills. It is to have Christ filling our life in ever-increasing measure until we have no life apart from Him. Does He so fill you? But I can hear some modern Nicodemus say, "How can these things be? How can I live such a life in my home where I receive no help or sympathy but rather ridicule, and where I have so long lived a defeated life? How can I live a consistent life in my social circle that is pervaded with worldliness and wickedness and where Christ is never mentioned or even thought of? How can I live a spiritual life in a place of business where all around me are living wholly in the flesh? How can I live on the highest plane in my church when it is worldly and modernistic, and I am unfed and untaught?" Well, you cannot live this life, but Christ can. Christ in us can live this live anywhere and everywhere. He did live it on earth in a home where He was misunderstood and maligned; among people who ridiculed, scoffed, opposed, and finally crucified Him. The whole point of this message is to show that we do not have to live this life, but that Christ is willing and able to live it in us. This is the truth that Christ taught in germ in his last conversation with His disciples. He had told them that He was going away from them and they were wondering how they would ever live without Him. But He assured them that He would be with them in a spiritual presence far more vital and real than the relationship they had formerly had with Him. The life of the vine was to become the life of the branches.
After He taught this to them He prayed it in. It was the burden of His High Priestly prayer.
Have you ever pondered the last three words of this prayer? "I in them." The simple but significant words breathe forth the deepest desire of Christ's heart in relationship to His own. It is His consuming desire to reincarnate Himself in the Christian. Paul laid hold upon this glorious truth and it laid hold upon him. It is woven into the warp and woof of his experience, preaching, and missionary service. "Christ lives in me" and "to me, to live is Christ" was the acme of his personal experience. There was nothing beyond this for Paul. To him this was life on the highest plane. "Christ in you" was the heart of his message to the churches. It rang out with clarion clearness in all Paul's preaching and teaching.
"Christ in you" was the passion of all Paul's missionary service. Paul had but one aim and goal in every form of work done—that Christ might be formed in every convert.
Christ is the Christian’s center. Christ is the Christian’s circumference. Christ is all in between. As Paul put it, "Christ is all and in all." Christ is the Life of our life.
Is He this to you?
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