Now that we know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, makes His residence inside each of us as believers, what do we do with that knowledge? We know that He is “in us”, but now we need to be “in Him.”
Philippians 3:10
10 that I may know
Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death;
A large part of your spiritual success in life depends on you coming to know Jesus Christ. How do we know someone who physically lived 2000 years ago? Think of it the same way as an internet romance. Of course, we cannot right now see Jesus Christ:
1 Peter 1:8
8 and though you have
not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in
Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
How do you grow to love someone you can’t see? All you have to do is know how they think! If you correspond with someone, even without ever laying eyes on them, you can learn how they think, and grow to love them!
1 Corinthians 2:16
16 For WHO HAS KNOWN
THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of
Christ.
You cannot love Jesus Christ, and truly be occupied with Him, until you learn how He thinks. Of course, the more you learn how He thinks, the more you will become occupied with Him, and not preoccupied with people. In this occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ is that “joy inexpressible and full of glory.”
There are two commands related to being occupied with Jesus Christ:
Hebrews 12:2
2 fixing our eyes on
Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God.
Fixing our eyes is the Greek word APHORAO. It means to take your eyes off of something, and fix them on something else. The key to this joy is to take your eyes off of the things of this world, and your relationships in this world, and FIX them on Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 3:15
15 but sanctify
Christ as Lord in your hearts, …
That word sanctify is the word HAGIAZO, and it means to sanctify, or to set something apart as holy, or to place the highest priority on something.
The word of God demands that we place the highest priority on Jesus Christ. As we grow, and learn more and more about how He thinks, we will naturally grow to love Him more and more. As you love Him more, this love becomes your real motivation in life:
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
14 For the love of
Christ controls (or motivates) us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;
15 and He died for
all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for
Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
In the knowledge and occupation with Christ is the essence of your spiritual growth. Don’t you want to be filled up to all the fullness of God?
Ephesians 3:19
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.