Walking In Christ

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”  Colossians 2:6-7

“Just as you have received Christ, so walk in Him.” Think about this simple statement.  How does one receive Christ? Is it by works? Is it by our actions? No, we receive Him by grace through faith. So Paul says, “The same way you received Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him that way.” How many times have you heard someone say, “ I have been walking with the Lord for ____ years.” Notice the exhortation here in Colossians is to walk in the Lord, not with the Lord. This is a reference to the promised land of Canaan, which is a wonderful picture of Christ in the Old Testament.

Everything the Israelites needed to live was contained in that land. They simply had to work it, mine its riches, and live off of its fruit. What Paul is saying to the New Testament believers is: “Walk in the real Canaan, which is Christ” – make Him your life, your everything, and you will bear fruit.  If you build anything, build it on the land and take the building materials from the land – build it on Christ, with Christ, and for Christ.

In Colossians chapters 3 and 4 Paul talked about the practical things like home life, master-slave relationships, etc. These other subjects are like spokes in a wheel – the wheel being Christ Himself. “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:11 He is the big picture, and He is in the details; He’s in the spiritual, and present in the practical. Many Christians are trying to invite God into their stories, but God is inviting us into His…and that story is Jesus Christ. You are a living epistle (letter) of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:3). If Christ is in you, then the Christian life is not about striving to be something you are not…it is about becoming what you already are.

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”  Ephesians 5:8

Good works are simply fruit falling off a tree. If you will sink your roots deep in Christ, who is your life, you will not be able to stop the fruit from coming forth. Incarnation doesn’t just apply to Jesus – it applies to us (not in the same redemptive way). When the angel appeared to Mary she asked the question, “How can this be?”  Our question is the same - how can Jesus be born in and grow in me? How can the Messiah be bodily present with us today? We have been given God’s Spirit, which makes Christ real in our lives…just as real as He was in Mary’s womb. Consider that amazing truth as you celebrate the birth of the Savior.

Father, We, Your Church, are the Tabernacle. You have chosen to make my life Your home…the place where Your Spirit dwells, speaks, ministers, and moves. Thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the cross and the empty grave. Thank You for the Spirit who lives in me, so that I may live in Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.