[Sons to Glory!]

This Thursday at brothers' breakfast, I read a portion of "The Indwelling Life of Christ" by Major Ian Thomas. Several people requested copies. I'm copying this short chapter below for the edification of people here. To me, it is a wonderful summary of what is the real Christian life, and a message I am thankful to hear over & over & over!

The Complete Answer

From: The Indwelling Life of Christ, by Major Ian Thomas (chapter 37)

The Christians of the early church have been described as being "incorrigibly happy, completely unafraid, and nearly always in trouble."

That is gloriously true, and Paul gives us an illustration of this attitude in the second epistle to the Corinthians when he was in a situation that was beyond human endurance. "We were burdened beyond measure," he says, " ... so that we despaired even of life."

Then he goes on, "Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead" (2 Corinthians 1:8-9). He was adopting this attitude: Our present difficulty is not our problem; it is His problem. It is in the hands of our God, who raises the dead.
Here was Paul dying to self, and this dying to self allowed him to hand the whole situation over to the One indwelling him, Jesus Christ, the God of resurrection power.

Dying to self is a wonderful position to be in, because dead people cannot die, and dead people do not have problems.

You see, every time you give yourself the right to have a problem or the right to worry about something, you give yourself the right to live your own life. However, if you adopt an attitude of total dependence on the Life of the Lord Jesus, the only life with which God will ever credit you, then no matter how threatening a situation may be, you can relate it to Him. You can say, "Thank You, Lord! This is no longer my problem or my worry; it is Yours."

This is the quality of life that gives you "the peace of God that passes all understanding." It is the quality of life that staggers your neighbors, leaving them perplexed and baffled as they see you remain on such an even keel in situations which would completely demoralize them.

This is the privilege that is yours and mine in Jesus Christ. It applies to every single situation in life without exception, to every decision you may be confronted with today, to every temptation that faces you, and to every responsibility you may be called upon to carry. This truth always applies: The Lord Jesus, the God of resurrection Life, indwells you bodily with all the adequacy of the Godhead, "and you are complete in Him" (Colossians 2:10).

I love Paul's thoughts in Philippians 4: 13 in The Amplified Bible: "I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency." Paul needed no crutches, because through dependence on Christ's completeness and competency he himself was completely competent.

To be wholly and completely and exclusively dependent on Christ's competence-that is the Christian Life. It is not just the monopoly of the few, nor is it the privilege only of God's special favorites. It is the Life for which you were redeemed. Christ's precious blood was shed to reconcile you to God, so that Christ, now risen from the dead, might share His resurrection Life with you.

It does not mean you will avoid pressures and threats and discomforts, but you can know that in every situation you have the complete, total, and absolute answer... in Christ, your Life. He is the answer.

To live a life less than this is to miss the whole point of your redemption.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." PHILIPPIANS 4:13

Question: For what current problems in particular have you been giving yourself the "right" to worry? How instead can you relate each of these situations to God, and release them to His responsibility?