DAY 32 — The Pearl: Let Jesus Live Through Me
DAY 32 — The Pearl: Let Jesus Live Through Me
“For to me, to live is Christ...” — Philippians 1:21 (NKJV)
Treasure to Possess
The greatest exchange of the Christian life is not simply that Jesus helps me live a better life, but that He becomes my life. I surrender who I am to Him and trust the Holy Spirit to increasingly express the life of Jesus through me.
Let Jesus Live Through Me
There are certain Scriptures that seem to become bigger the longer we walk with God. Philippians 1:21 is one of those for me: “For to me, to live is Christ.” I have read those words many times, but the more I think about them, the more I realize how radical they really are.
Paul was not simply saying, “Jesus is important to me.” He was saying something much deeper: “Christ has become my life.”
For many years, we can approach Christianity as though Jesus came primarily to help us become better versions of ourselves. We try to become more patient, more loving, more disciplined, more forgiving, and more like Jesus. Those are wonderful desires, but eventually we discover something frustrating: no matter how determined we are, we cannot manufacture the life of Christ through human effort.
Maybe we should quit “trying harder” and start trusting and depending more.
That does not mean we become passive or stop making good choices. It means we begin to understand where the power for transformation comes from. The Holy Spirit is not merely standing beside us cheering us on while we struggle to imitate Jesus. He lives within us to reveal and express the very life of Christ.
That changes the way I approach my weaknesses. When I realize I have not been very loving toward someone, my first response does not have to be, “Daniel, you need to try harder to love that person.” Instead, I can say, “Holy Spirit, I cannot produce the love of Jesus from myself. I surrender this relationship to You. Let the love of Christ within me flow through me.”
That is the exchanged life.
I exchange my limited love for His love, my weakness for His strength, my anxiety for His peace, my impatience for His patience, and my inability for His sufficiency. I am not trying to convince Jesus to give me a little more help so I can successfully live the Christian life. I am learning to depend upon the One who already lives within me.
I think this becomes especially real in our relationships because people have a wonderful way of revealing what is still inside us. It is easy to believe we are patient until someone tests our patience. It is easy to think we are forgiving until someone really hurts us. It is easy to talk about unconditional love until God places someone in our lives who is difficult to love.
Those moments are not simply interruptions to our spiritual lives. They may actually become some of our greatest opportunities for transformation.
When someone irritates me, I have an opportunity to surrender. When someone disappoints me, I have an opportunity to let Jesus love through me. When fear begins rising inside me, I have an opportunity to stop and depend upon His peace instead of allowing anxiety to control my thoughts.
The goal is not to become better at pretending to be like Jesus. The goal is for the life of Jesus to become increasingly genuine and visible through us.
That is why I love the difference between manufacturing and manifesting. We do not need to manufacture the love of God; we need to manifest the love of God. We do not have to manufacture peace, joy, kindness, or patience as though we are spiritual factories desperately trying to produce enough Christian character to get through the day. The Holy Spirit produces His fruit within us as we remain surrendered and dependent upon Him.
This takes tremendous pressure off the Christian life. I still have choices to make, obedience to walk out, thoughts to renew, and attitudes to surrender, but I am no longer depending upon myself as the source.
Jesus is the Source.
So perhaps one of the simplest prayers we could pray each morning is, “Jesus, live Your life through me today.” Let Him live through us in our conversations, decisions, disappointments, relationships, businesses, ministries, homes, and even in the unexpected interruptions that come our way.
At the end of the day, I do not simply want people to say that I was a good person or even a religious person. I want there to have been moments when someone encountered something in me that could only have come from Jesus—love when anger would have been easier, grace when judgment would have been natural, peace when circumstances should have produced fear, and generosity when selfishness would have been understandable.
That is the life I want.
Not a manufactured Christianity built upon my ability to perform, but a surrendered life through which Jesus can increasingly be seen.
For to me, to live is Christ.
Prayer of Faith
Precious Heavenly Father, thank You that You never asked me to manufacture the life of Jesus through my own strength. You have given me Your Holy Spirit and placed the life of Christ within me.
Today I surrender my weaknesses, reactions, attitudes, relationships, and limitations to You. When my love is insufficient, let His love flow through me. When my strength fails, let His strength sustain me. When anxiety tries to control me, let the peace of Jesus rule within me.
Holy Spirit, teach me to depend upon You more. I do not want merely to imitate Jesus outwardly; I want His life to become increasingly real and visible through mine. Let my family, friends, coworkers, and everyone You place in my path encounter something of Jesus through the way I live and love.
I am loved by You, precious Heavenly Father, filled with Your Holy Spirit, and alive in You, my precious Savior, Jesus Christ. In the powerful name of Jesus, amen.
