Morning By Morning #127

We live in him.

1 John 4:13

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

Do you want a house for your soul? But do you ask, “What is the purchase price?” The price is actually much less than our proud human nature would like to pay. It cannot be bought with money—no matter how much. Still, you say that at least you would like to pay a respectable rent. You would love to do something to have Christ. If that is the case, then you cannot have the house at all, for it is without a price.

Are you willing to take my Master’s house along with its eternal lease while paying nothing for it—nothing but the ground lease of loving and serving Him forever? Will you take Jesus and “live in him”? His house is fully furnished with all you need and is filled with more riches than you could spend throughout eternity. And inside His house you can have intimate communion with Christ and feast on His love, for the tables are well stocked with enough food to last forever. Once inside you can find rest for your weariness in Jesus, and from its windows you can view heaven itself.

Will you take the house? If your soul is homeless you will say, “I would like to have the house, but may I really have it?” Yes, you may, if you have the key. And the key is this: Come to Jesus. Still you say, “But I am too shabbily dressed for such a house as this.” Don’t worry, there are beautiful new clothes for you inside.

If you feel guilty and condemned—come. And although the house is too good for you, Christ will make you good enough for it over time. He will wash and cleanse you until you are able to sing, “We live in him.”

Dear believer, how thrilled you must be to have such a dwelling place! You are greatly privileged indeed, for you have a “rock of refuge” (Ps. 71:3) where you are forever safe. And by living in Him, not only do you have a perfect and totally secure house but also one that is everlasting. When this world has long since faded away like a dream, your house will live and stand more indestructible than marble and more solid than granite. Your house will be as self-existent as God, for it is God Himself.

“We live in him”!

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

The two words that best sum up the writings of the apostle Paul are “in Christ.” These words are used ninety-eight times in the NIV Bible, once by the writer of Hebrews, three times by Peter, once in Acts (referring to Paul’s message), and ninety-three times by Paul himself in his epistles. He expressed it in ways such as, “You also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph. 1:13).

Yes, we “live in him,” and although the apostle John didn’t use those exact words, he certainly understood its truth, for he wrote:

“If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:15 – 16).

Thank You, Lord, that “surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Ps. 23:6).