17 Jun God Works for You, In You, and Through You
Galatians 2:17-21 – But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
When I was a kid, I liked to sit on a stool to eat my breakfast cereal. The only problem was that one of the three legs on the stool was wobbly and so sometimes I lost my balance and dumped my cereal all over myself.
Life with God is like a three-legged stool. If any is wobbly, we can easily lose our balance. Here are the three legs:
God’s Work for You (Justification)
Jesus took your place and lived a sinless life. Jesus took your place and paid your debt of death for sin on the cross. Jesus went before you and continues to work for you by preparing a home for you, never leaving or forsaking you, and ruling over the cosmos you call home.
God’s Work in You (Regeneration)
God the Holy Spirit has brought the life of Christ to live in you if you are a believer. Through the Spirit, you are given a new heart, new nature, new desires for God, and new power to live like Jesus Christ.
Gods Work through You (Sanctification)
Because your old status, old identity, and old lifestyle were crucified on the cross with Christ, there is now a brand-new life for you to live. That life is not your life but the life of Jesus Christ lived through you as a means of His grace unleashed on the world so that His love heals, transforms, makes new, and restores.
Which of these three are you most familiar and least familiar with?