Easter is coming! I thought it would be productive to post a word on what people can have now that Christ has atoned for us to live.

In Genesis 3:15, God first gave us the promise of Christ, even though the promise was veiled at the time given. Nevertheless, the promise was of a seed (which I hope you know) God was faithful to send. That seed of Eve was Christ. The promise is not only Christ, but all those in Christ who will be brought to the mature nature revealed in Jesus Christ.  Jesus is humankind’s King.

Psalm 89:1-4 speaks this same truth when it says faithful God establishes His covenant with His Chosen One and thereby humanity can become His offspring forever. This is what the Christian is! A Christian is one who puts their faith in the faithfulness of Christ.

Christ’s faithfulness opens the door to salvation, but more importantly to Father God.

Now if you’re anything like me, you are a Christian and after receiving Christ as your Lord thought, “Ok, now what?”

It turns out the Christian faith is not simply having faith, being ok with God, and then waiting to die and go to a better place. The Christian faith is living by faith. That means once you are set right by faith in Christ you spend your remaining days, “In Christ.” “In Christ” is significant and means you are under grace exercising the law of liberty given by Christ. That is, of course, easier said than done, because there is resistance to being “In Christ.”  We have an adversary.  As Jesus put it, “The thief comes only to steal and destroy, I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10 NET)

By faith, we obtain right standing before God, but also the powerful abundance of knowing God. When we push forward in faith from the point of justification, in the face of the opposition, God builds in us His character as we hold onto living in confidence towards Him. When we understand that the relational process in Christ commands abiding-belief, then we understand what brings the potential to reflect the very faithfulness of Jesus of Nazareth.

We who know Christ, best enjoy the life He has granted through the Cross when we’re sharing in the effort to express the reality of the Gospel (the good news). When we truly follow the faithful behavior of Christ Jesus, who Himself was reflecting Father God, we steward and learn to share in what will come at Christ’s return. We steward the abundant life in the present by submission to Christ’s faithfulness. The life we live now produces life (the harvest) in the Age to Come.  When we who believe in Christ abide in believing we mature alike faithfulness to Christ. So, we come to know through the loyalty of Jesus to Father God. What it is to be a faithful human being toward God.  We richly encounter God, or as Jesus put it, have life abundantly!

THE CHALLENGE

Do not settle for being anything less in your spiritual growth than all for which Christ atoned. The Will of God for humanity on Earth is revealed in the person of Christ as proclaimed in the New Testament. He is the standard we are called to mature to be if we bare the name of Christ. It is a good idea to not simply “seek to avoid death in Christ.” Rather, may we seek the fullness of the life He offers, which I believe is found in seeking and embracing His character in our lifestyle.

Always Remember: God is Patient and Forgiving, but we must Loyally-Believe.

BMD