The Exchanged Life

The Exchanged Life

You died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Colossians 3:3-4

The exchanged life was a term used by early Christian writers to explain the truth that when Christ died on the cross, the believers’ old selves died with Christ and their new selves found meaning in living for him. As they remained in him, they experienced a spontaneous outflowing of a life rooted in and devoted to Christ. They also believed the exchanged life to mean having the same orientation that Jesus demonstrated, that he could do nothing of himself unless it was something he saw the Father doing. Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus didn’t attempt anything on his own initiative. Instead, he said the Father who lived within him did his work through his Son. That’s the exchanged life: believers surrendering and exchanging their lives and desires for God’s purposes.

When we live in this kind of yieldedness on a daily basis, the Lord is free to be in our hearts and in our thinking, to love even the difficult, hard-to-love folks, and to pray through us in harmony with his will. We lay down our plans, and God shows us his plans, which are far greater than we could imagine. He promises to fully support those who have exchanged their lives for his.

As the early Christians found, we, too, will discover this is an awesome way to live, a great investment of our hours, days, and years on earth. —CHERI

Father, forgive me for hanging on to my way of living life. I want to lay down my life and agenda so that your life can be manifested. I ask for your help, Holy Spirit.

The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a person who is fully and wholly consecrated to Christ.

—HENRY VARLEY (1835–1912), BRITISH EVANGELIST