The disciples were first called “Christians” by non believers in the biblical city of Antioch. This term was not used in a favorable light, but “Christian” has remained until today and we use it throughout the faith. Every definition I’ve ever heard for the word includes the phrase “Christ-like”. The only problem with that is we are supposed to be “in Christ” (The Anointed One); not some facsimile, but the real Jesus Christ, the son of God. If we’re not, then burdens cannot be removed and yokes cannot be destroyed. Isaiah 10:27.
Most people can tell the difference between a Coke and a Cola. The taste is different. The fizz is certainly different, and it doesn’t take that long for a cola to go flat on you. If you like “The Real Thing”, you’re not satisfied with a Cola.
As believers, we can’t be satisfied with being Christ like, we must be in the earth as he was when he was here. He even told his disciples that greater things they would do after He had ascended to the Father. Are we not his disciples? We have somehow created a divide in our thinking. We feel like Jesus performed miracles and healed all manner of people because, well, he was Jesus. After all, He is God’s Son. That sort of belief system misses the entire point of Jesus’ ministry on earth. God could have done anyhing he wanted from heaven. But the point was for His Son to travel the route that all men born travel; from the spiritual realm, to the womb of a woman and through the matrix (birth canal). Jesus was subject to everything any other human was subject to and he lived his life as example of what could be accomplished with a unrestricted relationship with God. His death and resurrection sealed the deal, reconciling us to God. He who knew no sin, became sin for us and God was satisfied with this sacrificial lamb. Now we have access the the full power of the Father through the Son with the help of the Holy Spirit. There are angelic forces of God on stand-by waiting to hearken to the voice of the word coming from our mouths.
Being “in Christ” is not ficticious, it is true. It is not imaginary, it is genuine. Saints, we have the real thing.
© Fredrick F. Nicholson all rights reserved
