Divine Life

(* I am completely over blogspot right now. I did not write this post as one long paragraph. But when I publish it, blogspot changes it and I don't know how to fix it. UGH.) I used to think that the Eternal Life that I was given through Christ Jesus meant that after my physical body died my spirit would live forever with Him in Heaven. That His sacrifice gave me the ability to live MY LIFE forever. I have since come to understand something quite different and much more beautiful. You see, I was reading Scripture with myself as the focus. Every story I read I tried to fit myself into. Every letter of Paul's I tried to figure out how it pertained to MY LIFE. Here's the rub: Scripture isn't about me. It isn't about you. Scripture is solely about one person. Our magnificent Lord Jesus. From the first page to the last, it is all about Jesus. God is enraptured with one Person, His Son. Jesus Christ is the thing that is always on God's mind. And Since Scripture is God-breathed, the only thing that God talks about is His Son. "All Scripture testifies of me." -Jesus Every story in Scripture is a picture of Jesus. I used to read about people in Scripture and try to see how my life fit with theirs or hoped that the Lord would use me in as grand a way as He used them. I was so focused on me. On MY LIFE. Now I realize that all those people in Scripture are pictures of Jesus. There are aspects of our Lord in those people and those stories. They aren't to be read to figure out MY LIFE. They are to be read to know our Lord more. God wasn't thinking about me when He inspired Scripture to be written. He was thinking about His Precious Son. And He wrote Jesus onto every page. Now when I read the Bible, my focus isn't on how this pertains to me or how I need to change MY LIFE to fit. And since I have started reading the Bible to find Jesus in it, the Scriptures have opened up amazingly. The depth, the clarity, the beauty; it's all Christ. After understanding this, a new revelation dawned. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to a NEW LIFE because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. Col. 2:12 Since you have been raised to NEW LIFE with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your REAL LIFE is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, WHO IS YOUR REAL LIFE, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Col. 3:1-4 When I believed on Christ and confessed Him as my Lord and was baptized something amazing happened. I WAS BURIED WITH CHRIST. Bridget was buried. We don't bury things that still have life in them. We bury things that are dead. I was dead. Dead in my sin. And I was buried. But God in His infinite mercy and grace gave me NEW LIFE. He gave me HIS SON. I now have Christ living in me. Christ is my life. He is the ONLY real life. Because He is living in me I am now alive in Him. And here's the rub, It's not MY LIFE anymore. I am now living by another life. Christ's life. He is living HIS LIFE in and through me. It's not about me. It's always about HIM. And it's not MY LIFE anymore. It's His. His beautiful, glorious, powerful, peaceful, joyful, restful LIFE. The only REAL LIFE. DIVINE LIFE. "Christ in you, the hope of glory." -Paul