Containers of Christ's Life

When God created humanity, he fashioned us to be a container.  That container needed something for it to function properly; it needed life! Genesis 2:7 says God breathed life into man’s container and he became a living being. 

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  God’s life in Adam and Eve, expressed in their moment by moment living, was a display of His glory.  Nothing generated from self-effort expresses the glory of God.  This can be confusing because we want to believe when we do good things it is pleasing to God.  However, anything done out of self-effort, whether good or bad, is flesh.   Paul said in Galatians, “the flesh sets itself against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh” (Gal. 5:17). 

If you want to test whether your good deed is of the Spirit or of the flesh, here is a simple question to ask yourself: Will I feel better about myself if I do this?  If the answer is yes, most likely you are operating out of the flesh.  If the answer is, “I’m doing this because I want to,” or “The Holy Spirit prompted me,” then you are operating in the Spirit.  The first answer reveals us attempting to get our need for worth or value met through a good deed.  The second is focused on Christ’s life expressed through actions.  When you are walking in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16), you are doing what you want to do, not out of need, but out of His life.  The flesh prohibits us from doing what we want to do (Gal. 5:17b).

As I began to think about believers being a container of Christ’s life, the Holy Spirit revealed that my view of “container” was limited to my earthly way of thinking.  Every container I’m familiar with has a limit to how much it can hold. When I look in the mirror, I see a physical container that weighs just under 200 lbs., and is almost six feet tall.  In other words, with my physical eyes I see the limits of the space I fill in this world.  However, I cannot see my spirit with my physical eyes.  It is my spirit which is designed to contain Christ’s life.  It is my soul and body which express His Life.  Paul indicated in Ephesians 3:19, we can be filled up with the fullness of God.

Again, we were designed to be a container, but only a Person can fill our container.  As humans, we try to fill our container with riches, power, relationships, influence, education, etc. None of these things can begin to take up space in our container, no matter how much we put in.  If we could attain all the wealth, power, and prestige of this world, it would only be a drop in our container.  We were given an eternal container designed to be filled solely with an eternal source.  How awesome is that!  When you and I are abiding in Christ, we are expressing His fullness in us.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.” (2 Cor. 4:7, NASB)

Let's Dance!

I had the privilege of officiating a wedding for a very dear friend. As I stood there at the altar with him and the rest of the wedding party, I watched him. I wanted to see his face when his bride came around the corner. I’ve done that so many times in the past, because I knew what I was going to see – a face that will light up at the sight of his beloved. My friend’s face didn’t disappoint. When she came into view, he said “WOW!” When she saw him, a bright smile spread across her face. It was the perfect picture of delight. They weren’t focused on anyone else.

Later, during the reception, he danced with his bride. She looked safe in his arms and he looked overjoyed for her to be there. They both had waited a long time for this day. Even though they had officially committed themselves to each other a couple of years before, this was the day where there would be no turning back. After the feasting was over, the dance floor was opened to anyone who wanted to celebrate with them. I watched him go back to the dance floor with his family and friends and dance like King David. He didn’t care what anyone thought about his dancing, he just danced.

Let me tell you a secret….I love dancing! I only dance in the privacy of my home. Why? Because I am challenged in the rhythm area. There are two things I want to experience the moment I shed this old body. I want to play the drums and I want to dance. You don’t have to ask me twice to sit down and watch a movie with dancing. Seeing someone dance well makes my spirit soar.

I think God put within all of us a desire to use our bodies to express joy. Just as David danced before the Lord and my friend danced before his family and friends, when we are filled with joy unspeakable, we want to let it out through our bodies. There is nothing perverse about this desire. When it’s just me and my grandkids, I play some fun music and we dance. I get made fun of by the adults in the room, but I don’t care and neither do my grandkids.

God fills me with joy because He is delighted with me. Why? Because I am His child. King David recognized his value to God when he said in Psalm 139:17-18a, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.” (NASB)

The Bible says I am the bride of Christ (2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:2,9). My groom looks at me with delight. Think about that. If I’m the child of God and the bride of Christ, what higher honor or status can I seek? There is none. So, what is my conclusion to that? Let’s dance!

Love Throws a Party!

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“(Love) does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth…” (1 Cor. 13:6, NASB)

This is a recognizable passage from 1 Corinthians. Read at a few million weddings over the years, it has become so familiar we have missed the amazing truth Paul declared. Most have focused on the first part of the verse regarding unrighteousness.

Sinful acts are the expression of unrighteousness. When others sin against us, we can get hurt. Feeling hurt is nothing to rejoice about. Also, we can commit acts of unrighteousness against others and ourselves. This doesn’t lead to rejoicing either.

It feels right to focus on the unrighteousness and to declare it bad or wrong, but, what does this focus accomplish in us? It actually keeps us rooted in the emotions which result from getting hurt or doing wrong. For some reason, we think this is what God wants us to do. We believe our anger (from getting hurt) will protect us from getting hurt again, or our shame (from doing wrong) will somehow motivate us to do right the next time.

In this passage, Paul says love actively does something – it rejoices. His focus is not on condemnation, sorrow, regret, disappointment, or discontent. Paul said love rejoices with the truth. That is what love does.

Think of two rooms in which love can choose to be present. It can only be in one room at a time. Love is either in the room of condemnation or the room of rejoicing. If love is in the room of condemnation, its focus will be on denouncing what is wrong (unrighteousness). You would hear love saying wrong was done to you, or you did something wrong. However, Paul told us love is not in that room. It is in the room of rejoicing.

In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), the father ran out to his son to rejoice with the truth. What was the truth in which he rejoiced? I don’t think it had anything to do with a change of heart within the son. I believe the truth was the fact that the father had gifted his son complete forgiveness. I believe the father also rejoiced that this lost son was still fully his son, no matter what offense the son had committed. And of course, the father’s love for the son was not hindered by a wrong suffered.

As I listen to folks, I hear many focus on the hurt, the offense, or the betrayal. Rejoicing is not some kind of mind game to take our focus off of the unrighteousness done to us or we have done to others or our self.

In every unrighteous circumstance, no matter how hurtful, there is truth in which to rejoice. It is when we are drawn into the infinite heights and depths of God’s love that truth becomes so obvious and overwhelming. When I am experiencing God’s love, I can throw a party for truth. God’s truth reminds me I am loved, worthy, safe, not alone, accepted, adequate, etc. His truth doesn’t excuse unrighteousness, but His truth changes me. Embracing His truth enables me to forgive others and myself.

I don’t need to attend a lecture on the evils of unrighteousness. That doesn’t sound like much fun or very productive. Just as the prodigal son’s father threw a party because of his love, let’s rejoice in the Father’s truth that we are unconditionally loved and accepted.