God lives in His people

Ever since reading an older book called “God’s Part and Our Part” I’ve been trying to figure this out. I’ve noticed that most preachers and Christian books stress one or the other, usually our part. This gives me the feeling of having a human hand raised with a strong and shaking finger pointed at me. It raises guilt too, for no matter how hard I try, my part seems to elude me or gets blurry.

We have moved many times and attended many churches. One year, we were in three different places and attended three different churches — with three different denominations. They had two things in common: the focus of the messages was on what God does and has done for His people, and the services were growing to the point that we had to get there early to find a place to sit.

Since then, I’ve thought that my relationship with God was not like two unequally yoked critters trying to pull a load, but more like a hand in a glove. The ideal is a completely yielded glove, but in this case, the glove has a mind of its own and resists the hand. Yet the more I trust and submit to His desire, the more I am like the hand and the more that glove looks and behaves like the Lord wants me to. The emphasis is on God's part, not mine.

What does this say about obedience? Just this: I cannot do anything apart from the ‘doing’ that my Savior wants and initiates. The glove might comfort others, or help with a project, or even write a blog, but it is really the hand that is making it move. Jesus illustrated it with this:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:1–5)

Without His hand, the glove can do nothing in the same way that a chopped off vine cannot produce fruit. Yet His hand is always there because Jesus lives in me. The worst is that I can try to function by ignoring Him, but that cannot succeed because He never leaves me. He may allow my wandering until I realize His overpowering presence. Eventually His hand will have its way because ‘doing nothing’ is a very sad and unfulfilling way to live. Like the prodigal eating pig food, I always run home, even though ‘home’ never left me.

The abiding presence of Jesus is vital to living for Him. The world, the flesh, and certainly the devil would like me to forget what He said: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” and “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Instead of thinking He is not there, He continually reminds me that He is with me and provides all I need to live for Him.

One more lesson is this: the presence of the hand in the glove is most evident when the glove moves with it. The more I respond to Him, the more I realize His love and power. He even uses my lack of response to teach me the importance of letting Him rule my life. I’m useless without Him.

That said, I am also “in Christ” yet that does not make me the hand and Him the glove. Being ‘in Him’ requires a different description!

PRAY: Lord, Your hand is never raised shaking a stern finger at me because Your hand is part of who I am, and I am not just one of the fingers. The way I live when in harmony with You is how others see You — the hand in the glove. I realize also that I’m not a fancy glove or anything special, but…

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. (Galatians 2:20)