Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? - 2 Cor 13:5
"I don't ask people if they're saved anymore. Who isn't saved? From the white house to the jail house? I look a person in the eye and I say does Christ live in you?"
The preceding quote comes from the 20th century English evangelist Leonard Ravenhill. After making this remark, he recounted a brief story about a Chinese scholar who had been given the New Testament for the first time.
This Chinese scholar had read the Quran, the Hindu Vedas, and all the sacred books of China. When he was finished with the New Testament, he was asked what struck him the most.
The man who asked the question expected to hear something along the lines of "that Jesus was born of a virgin" or "that Jesus had risen from the dead." Instead this was the answer the Chinese man gave:
"The most amazing thing is that it calls you 'the habitation of God.' Sir...
Does your God live inside of you?"
This is truly what separates Christianity from all other world-views, philosophies, and religions of the world.
While New Age spirituality would like to feed us the lie that we are God, and while Islam would like to feed us the lie that we are nothing more than God's slaves on earth, Christianity bridges the gap between both distortions to reveal the truth.
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?" Paul asks the Corinthian church (1 Cor 6:19)
When the believer is born again, he is no longer the same person.
Again Paul tells the Corinthians, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Cor 5:17)
Jesus did not come to Earth merely to give us a free ticket to Heaven. He came to tear the veil separating man from God. He came to baptize us with the Holy Spirit. He came to show us the Way to a divine life.
Of this Way Jesus told us,
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."
If our lives look like the rest of the world, we must do as Paul says and examine ourselves. And we will come to realize that Almighty God lives inside of us... unless of course, we fail the test.
God is longing to dwell within each of us.
He is knocking at our door.
All we must do
is open.
I became a minister according to the stewardship from God
that was given to me for you,
to make the word of God fully known,
the mystery hidden for ages and generations
but now revealed to his saints.
To them God chose to make known
how great among the Gentiles
are the riches of the glory of this mystery,
which is Christ in you.
Col 1:25-27
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