Out of Heaven and Into Us

Out of Heaven and Into Us

You are driving down the highway in your car, and you see a fellow standing next to his car which is parked beside the road. Out of the kindness of your heart you stop and say, "Can I help?"

You discover that his car is out of gas. It does not have what it takes to keep going.

You happen to have a tow-rope in your trunk, so you offer to tow his car to the next town where he can fill up, and he agrees.

After you make it to the gas station and his car is filled with gas, the man tells you, with great embarrassment, that he just realized he has no money or even a credit card to pay for the gas. Again, out of the generosity of your heart, you pay the bill. You pay a debt you did not owe because he owes a debt he cannot pay.

What does that sound like? Redemption? That is what happened for us on the Cross.

There is a purpose behind your payment of that man's debt. What is it? To fill the tank and give the man what it takes for his car to go, so he can be on his way.

After you pay for the man's gas, he thanks you profusely, and you turn and walk away. As you get into your own car, you look back to wave goodbye. To your astonishment, your see the man straining behind his car, pushing it.

So you go back to him. What will you say? Probably something with words similar to these: "Poor, silly, thoughtless, unreflecting, senseless man!" - just the way Paul addressed the Galatians (Gal. 3:1) for failing to live simply by faith in the power of the indwelling Christ through His Spirit.

When you and I received Christ as our Redeemer, He gave us, through His Holy Spirit, the fullness and power of His resurrection. He has given us everything we could ever need at any time, under any circumstance. He gave us a car with a full tank; have you instead been trying to push it?

Whenever the gasoline is gone, it is not time for new upholstery, new spark plugs, or new tires; it is time to fill up the tank? Likewise if our spiritual tank is empty, it is time to fill it. With what? With Christ!

The Lord Jesus came from heaven to earth not just to get us out of hell and into heaven - though He is the only One who can and does, if we let Him - but to get Himself out of heaven and into us.

He gave Himself for us to give Himself to us, the gift of His Life so that we may enjoy a wonderful, personal relationship with Him that never changes, because "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Grasp this well, for otherwise your Christianity will remain boring, sterile, and impersonal. Christ Himself is the very life-content of the Christian faith. He is oil for the lamp and gas for the car. Only He makes everything "tick".

Christ did not die simply that you might be saved from a bad conscience, or even to remove the stain of past failure, but to "clear the decks" for His divine activity through you.

"Christ is All and in all" (Colossians 3:11).

1. In what ways at this time is your relationship with Christ very wonderful and personal? Give Him thanks for this.

2. In what ways is your Christianity in any way boring, or sterile, or impersonal?

~W. Ian Thomas~