We Are In!

As I was following a train of thought in my early morning Bible study today, I began to re-consider some of my closing comments from yesterday’s post.  It seemed like I was portraying the idea of it taking a bold and sort of brutish act of confidence in order to be ready to speak about your faith to others when asked.  This morning as I was led from Philippians chapter four to Nehemiah chapters eight and nine, I saw the error of my ways!  It is not about taking a courageous act of faith when asked, but having the courage to just live your life as it were “in Christ” 24/7!

The Apostle Paul so elegantly stated in Philippians 4:19, “But God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  (KJV)  Many of my commentaries inferred that the word “by” would best be translated as “in” Christ.  Jamieson, Fausset and Brown footnote the thought that God will supply all our needs “by virtue of your being ‘IN’ (not by) Christ Jesus.”  Like I have stated numerous times before, that is the quality that intrigued me about my wife when we first met.  I had believed myself to be a Christian, but she sure had a different relationship with Jesus than I had.  She just lived like He was with her all the time.  She didn’t have to look for opportunities to slip Jesus into a conversation, she just exhibited Him in everything she did and said.  And on top of that, she was always strong, happy and enthusiastic about life.

Nehemiah 8:10 explains this everyday reaction.  It is a scripture that she still lives today.  It says “Today is a holy day for the Lord.  Don’t be sad because the joy you have IN the Lord is your strength.”  (God’s Word ©)  In speaking of this verse in relationship to the Israelites to whom this part of scripture was originally written about, John Gill cites that “This joy… was (and is) a means both of increasing their bodily strength, and their inward strength and fitting them the more to perform their duty to God and men with cheerfulness, which sorrow and heaviness made them unfit for…”

The hunger inside of me quickly caused me to develop a similar relationship with Him.  Since then it was and still is a common occurrence to have people that we are talking with comment about the goodness of God in our lives!  It is simple a natural part of who we are.  We simply live in the reality of His unending goodness and riches as told of in Philippians 4:19. 

Let’s see if I can explain it with an example…  Have you ever heard of or seen the old Disney movie “Candleshoe?”  (It stars David Niven, Helen Hayes and a young Jodi Foster - great family movie!)  There is a part in it where the conniving confidence man has tricked an older lady of royal means into believing that his young accomplice is her long lost grand daughter.  With the girl inside the estate, the tricksters would have access to the full benefits of the family as well as the freedom to search the premises for a reported treasure that was hidden centuries before by a pirate relative.  Once the young girl is accepted by the wealthy family, the confidence man goes to his female cousins home where the two embrace in glee and proceed to dance around the room while the man keeps repeating with excited fervor: “We are in!  We are in! La, La, La, La La!”

That’s how you should be living too!  Constantly flowing in the joy of the Lord that you have IN Him!  It is a position that should just emanate from everything you do and say!  You simply live it out, and others will be drawn to you.  The courage comes at the beginning when you decide that this is the only way to live, and that nothing will ever turn you away from it.  So if you ever have second thoughts take a moment to picture that funny couple from the movie dancing around the room and then sing along with them… “I am in!  I am in! La! La! La! La! La!”  Have a joyful weekend and a good dance!  Stay tuned and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”