In a much earlier post, I mentioned the concept of the Christ life. That is, the focus of understanding about the work of the Holy Spirit. He becomes the companion of the Christian and is indeed our Friend. He brings the nature of Christ's character and motivation into our lives. As we read the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit translates them into the language of our spirit. The nature of our relationship to Christ is that the Holy Spirit is the living connection between the Christian and the Christ. Our walk with Christ changes from our striving to be good into a relaxation on the power of the Holy Spirit to be our Motivator in each daily situation.
So, when we speak at Easter of the importance of the resurrection of Christ, we speak again and again of how Christ is alive! But, more precisely, He is alive in us by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We need to commit the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John and the eighth chapter of Romans to memory so that we can ponder the depth of the meaning of this vital relationship.
The miracle of an Easter Sunday service is to see one generation after another all testifying to the power of the work of God in their lives to transform them from failure to progress and hope. The children, the teens, the young marrieds, the middle aged, the grandparents, all demonstrate the presence of the same Holy Spirit alive in them by their individual new births by faith in Christ.
You can see a little girl in all sincerity give her heart to Jesus. You can see an aged person smile at the mention of Christ. You can see the former party girl mature into a loving mother and devoted wife. You can see the former "player" mature into the caring husband and father and provider for his family. None of this can occur without the moving power of the Holy Spirit Who is one and the same to each of these.
It was after a remarkably wonderful Sunday worship service. The visiting speaker did not depart with the pastor to some Sunday brunch. He remained after the service to greet and to give hugs to members of the congregation who were lingering to chat with one another. The speaker would approach one person after another with the same warm question and answer. "Do you love Jesus?", he would ask. The person would respond with a "yes." "Well then," he would say. "You love the Jesus in me. Give me a hug!"
It is as St. Paul said. In Colossians 1:26 he writes that it is Christ IN us that is the hope of glory. That is to say, the hope of revealing the nature of Who Christ is in wisdom, in compassion, in faithfulness to those whose lives we touch.
Christ is risen indeed in us. This is not an arrogant assumption. It is a miracle of faith placed by humility at Christ's empty tomb.
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