Christ In You

Galatians 4:17-20

I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. (Galatians 4:19)

JESUS CAME INTO THIS WORLD as the incarnation of God—the perfect image of the Father. That alone is not a novel concept, as many religions embrace incarnations (or reincarnations) of a deity or divine figure. But the New Testament is clear about the uniqueness of Jesus as the exact image of the one true God. The Word of God was made flesh and lived among us.

We celebrate that astonishing event every Christmas, but we often forget to take the celebration a step further. We focus so intently on the incarnation of God in Christ that we neglect the incarnation of Christ in us. Not only was the Word made flesh to live among us; the Spirit was sent to inhabit our flesh and continue the phenomenon of incarnation through God’s people. We have been sent into the world in the same way the Son was sent into it (John 20:21); Christ within us is the hope of glory and an age-old mystery now revealed (Colossians 1:26-27); it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us (Galatians 2:20); we are earthen vessels carrying an unimaginable treasure (2 Corinthians 4:7); and both collectively and individually, our bodies are described as a temple (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). One of the most astounding truths of the Bible is that God not only incarnated himself in Jesus but continues to do so in Jesus’ followers.

Not perfectly, of course. We begin as flawed, contaminated rebels, lumps of common clay needing to be shaped in our growth into the image of God. But that’s where we are headed, and it’s also how we are called to live right now. The Christ-centered purposes of God always involve his people. The promise of Christ in us means we are to live as incarnations for a world that needs to see him. It sounds both presumptuous and impossible, but it’s true—and it’s God’s mission for redeeming this world.

{Jesus, I can’t possibly even begin to live as an incarnation of you apart from the power of your Spirit. But may I never dismiss my calling to do so as impossible. Send me into my family, my work, my church, my city, and my world as your image. Amen.