Prepositional Spirituality #6 – Christ beyond You
One way our Christian spirituality can be understood and experienced is through prepositions: • Christ is for you – he poured out his life for you. • Christ is with you – he walks alongside you. • Christ is in you – he lives inside you. • Christ is through you – he lives his life through you. • Christ is among you – he is present among his gathered people. Christ is also beyond you. The Christian life doesn’t stop with me or you. Christ’s
Prepositional Spirituality #5 – Christ among You
Simon & Garfunkel sang their ballad: I’ve built walls, a fortress deep and mighty, that none may penetrate. I have no need of friendship. Friendship causes pains. It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain. I am a rock. I am an island. Truth be told: That is a despairing song. No one is a rock or an island. And neither is any Christ follower. We are together with Christ among us. “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members
Prepositional Spirituality #4 – Christ through You
A little girl and her mother were talking as they walked out of a church. The mother asked her daughter how she liked the worship service that day. The girl replied that she thought it was good, but she was a little confused. She said, “The pastor said that God was bigger than we are. Is that true?” Her mother responded that it was true. “He also said that God lives inside us. Is that true, Mommy?” “Yes.” “Well then,” said the girl,
Prepositional Spirituality #3 – Christ in You
Unlike the followers of Confucius or Buddha or Mohammed, followers of Christ have a different center point. Those other leaders are external. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, is internal. Christ has come to live within his people. He has come to live within every believer. He indwells us. That is the uniqueness of the Christian Church. • Explaining this to his disciples, Jesus said, “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and
Prepositional Spirituality #2 – Christ with You
Donna and I often go walking in the morning about 2½ miles down through MacNeil Park along the East River. We see men fishing, LaGuardia Airport, and the Manhattan skyline. We pace ourselves walking side-by-side and talking together. That’s the way it is with God. As we walk in relationship with God, he walks with us – alongside us, side-by-side, together. His presence is there. His wisdom is available. His strength is acquirable. His grace is accessible. That God is “with” us
