Through the Apostle Paul, God tells us in Colossians 3:3(NLT), “For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.” Some might read this and feel very grateful that our lives are hidden with Christ, but they might not take the time to really digest how monumental this blessing is. In our current day reality, we can see very clearly what a world under the rule of satan looks like. It is insidiously evil, shadowed with darkness, and mixed with a combination of chaos and confusion that often masquerades as pleasure. I heard someone say the other day that we’ve become so evil toward one another as human beings, that even the devil is impressed. We’ve demonstrated that we can sink to terrible depths of darkness, and yet, God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, made it possible for us to escape it and live in His glorious light.
And not just live in the light, 1Thessalonians 5:5 (NLT) declares, “For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night.” God has adopted us into His family through Jesus Christ, and made us sons and daughters, the spiritual siblings of His Dear Son. By accepting the Lord as our personal Savior, we are spiritually born again. Yes our physical body looks the same; we have the same brain and organs, but we are so much more than a body.
Our bodies are the temple that houses who we really are. In John 2:19, Jesus Christ referred to his physical body as a ‘temple’, and 1Corinthians 6:19 (NLT) says, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself.” We are spiritual beings having a human experience on earth. We belong to God lock, stock, and barrel.
The world is in pretty rough shape, but it didn’t all of a sudden get this way. When Jesus Christ came on the scene things were bad then too. People were sinning and doing horrible things to themselves and others just as they are now, but even so, God wanted us to be a part of His family. This is the purpose for which He created us. He would never force us to be members of His family. Love doesn’t force, shove, or manipulate. God didn’t want robots that automatically do everything they are told. He wanted children, and He created us in His very own image.
We have a choice, and it is a choice that faces every single human being. We can either choose to be like God and live in the light of Christ, or we can stay in darkness. The one thing that we cannot do is be neutral. There’s no such thing as being in the middle. Not making a choice is the same as making one to remain blind and in the dark.
Contrary to the lie that the devil, and those he works through, wants people to believe, God does not kill, steal, or destroy. In John 10:10, Jesus Christ tells us that this is what the devil does. Death and destruction is satan’s territory, not Heavenly Father’s. 1John 4:8 tells us that God is love. 1John 1:5 tells us that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. We’re His kids, and He wants us to have a blessed life. He wants us to be prosperous and full of love, light, liberty, and life; just as He is. This is His nature.
What biological parent would not want their children to not only take on their best qualities, but to exceed their successes and accomplishments. Our biological parents did their best, and they may love us a lot, but God loves us far beyond the capabilities of human beings. We can’t love greater than Him, and we can never be who He is, but He has a goal for us.
Ephesians 4:13 (NLT) tells us that God’s goal for each of His children is that “we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.” Heavenly Father wouldn’t hold us to a standard, or set an expectation that we are incapable of meeting. So, if God has set a goal for us to measure up to the full and complete standard of Christ, then it must be possible for us to do so. Every day that we live and breathe we ought to be striving to meet this standard. We can do it because He said it could be done.
God’s nature is love, and all the great things that come with it. He’s our all-powerful, all-knowing, magnificent Father. We’re in Christ! And Christ is in Him! Acts 17:28-29 (NLT) declares, “for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.” That’s how the unenlightened children of darkness think. They made gods of medal, stone, nature’s elements, or some other man-made material, and began to worship it. That’s not us.
The Almighty God, the Creator of the entire universe, is our Heavenly Father, and as His children, He’s given us the awesome privilege and honor to partake of His divine nature. And to top it off, Ephesians 1:13 tells us He sealed the deal with the Holy Spirit of promise! We have died to that old, run down way of living in darkness. We have a new nature through Christ, one where we get to live through his love every moment of each day. It is the greatest blessing we could ever hope to receive! ■
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
“Partaking of God’s Divine Nature”, written by JMack. 4theChristianMan.Com© 2018. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.