We started looking yesterday at the principle that Christ lives inside each one of us as believers. Jesus spoke of this to His disciples:

John 14:19-20

19 "After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.

20 "In that day (after I’m gone) you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

To truly live the Christian life, and to glorify God, we must understand the principle that we are indwelt by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. When the Word of God says that we are a temple of the living God, it means literally that He dwells within us, just like He dwelt in the temple in the Old Testament.

Now look what Paul has to teach about this principle:

Galatians 2:20

20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

What a difference realizing these passages will make in your spiritual life! When you know that He lives inside you, you will have that correct focus and confidence:

Colossians 1:27

27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope (ELPIS means confident expectation, not just hope) of glory.

People cannot look at you and see the presence of Christ in you, but they can see the glory being revealed through you. Just like the Jews in the Old Testament could not see the Shekinah Glory in the Holy of Holies, but they could see the manifestations of Him (the cloud and the fire). We have the privilege and responsibility to “be the light of the world” and to “let our light shine before men.” God has one main way of revealing Himself today, and that is “Christ in you.” He doesn’t live in the temple, and manifest Himself there, or appear on the street corner, but He lives in us, the redeemed and freed and cleansed people as we walk about in this world.

What will this relationship do for us?

John 15:4

4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

As He abides in us, we must abide in Him. That is where all of the Christian production is! When you recognize the amazing relationship you have with Jesus Christ, and live in the knowledge of that relationship, it will really motivate you to live the true Christian life, representing God before man, and manifesting His glory in your life.

1 John 2:6

6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.