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And You Are Complete in Him – Colossians 2:10
We have spent some time discovering the spiritual fullness of realizing that the Holy Spirit, who is fully God in every sense, lives in us. Not around us or beside us or with us, but in us. And since He is God, what more do we need? Why do we desire less when we already have everything? What does the landfill have to offer us that is more alluring than a week at the beach or a five-day trip to Disney World? It doesn’t make much sense, does it?
Yet, we still try to find satisfaction and purpose outside of God when the source of all we could ever want or need or be now lives in us. And to make matters worse, once we come to understand our purpose in life and that our desire is found only in Him, we still try to serve Him in the flesh, by our own strength and resources, with dismal results. Again, it doesn’t make much sense, does it?
Remember where we are in this process. We have been looking at the second of three truths that will rid you of the guilt and shame of failure in your search for the Higher Christian Life. These truths, once internalized, will give you the courage and ability to live the “abundant” life in Christ (John 10:10) by the power of the Holy Spirit (which is the only way it can be experienced), and not in the weakness and pride of self-will and fleshly determination. Let’s quickly review.
Truth One states you are incapable of pleasing God or producing anything good with your flesh, no matter how hard you try (Rom. 7:18). This is the bad news. But the good news states in Truth Two that God has given you the Holy Spirit to live and dwell in you for the purpose, among other things, “both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). In other words, what is impossible to do by your own strength and resources, God has graciously supplied by the Spirit— who now lives in you. It really doesn’t get any better than that. But what exactly does it all mean?
Just think, in the same way God provided His Son to die for the forgiveness of your sins, He also now provides His Spirit to dwell in you so you may experience the power to live in the newness of life (Rom. 6:4) and have all your needs met by Him. Not just your need for salvation, but also your need for a Savior (Titus 2:13-14), for Someone to act as your perfect, atoning, sacrifice (1 John 2:2), or for an intermediary between you and a holy God (1 Tim. 2:5). Yes, literally “all” your needs.
Look at the needs the Spirit met in Paul’s life. Note, these were not just spiritual needs, but all his needs.
Past Experience: I know how to be based (to be brought low, humbled, especially in regards to basic needs), and I know how to abound (abundance, excess, to have more than enough). Everywhere and in all things (each, every, the whole, in totality, without exception) I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Lesson Learned: I can do all things (each, every, the whole, in totality, without exception) through Christ who strengthens me – Philippians 4:12-13.
Paul learned faith by experiencing both need and abundance. And it was the Holy Spirit living in him that imparted to him the strength to overcome all obstacles and to rejoice always in all situations (Phil. 4:4). But this just doesn’t apply to Paul. The promise is for each of us today.
Promise from God: And my God shall supply (to make full, to supply abundantly, to impart richly) all your need (how) according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus – Philippians 4:19.
That’s all your needs— everything you need. God will supply, with great abundance, all of what you will ever need in this life and in the life to come, according to the unfathomable riches in His glory, by and through Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the promise from the Father to you.
There is Nothing You Need He has not Already Supplied
But there is more.
Again, just as the blood of Christ covered all your sins, so you never have to look anywhere, or to anyone else to cover them again (Col. 1:14), so the Holy Spirit has also provided for all your needs so you never have to look anywhere or to anyone else in order to have them met. And this is especially true about meeting your own needs yourself. See Truth One. If Christ’s death on the cross was sufficient to pay the penalty for your sins, then the Holy Spirit indwelling in you is also sufficient to meet all your needs, both spiritually and otherwise. To believe anything else make the Spirit less than God.
And again, just as in your salvation, it was God who did all the work, and all we had to do was receive, by faith, what God had provided for us. Remember, “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:30a). It is because of Him. Look to what great lengths the Lord went to bring you to Himself.
For whom He foreknew (God’s action), He also predestined (God’s action) to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called (God’s action); whom He called, these He also justified (God’s action); and whom He justified, these He also glorified (God’s action) – Romans 8:29-30.
And in the same way, we must receive by faith what the Spirit has already provided for us in regards to living and experiencing the Higher Christian Life. When we received the Spirit, we received all of Him and with Him everything we need for a life of sanctification, holiness, service, and joy. After all, He is God. And we know we cannot produce anything of eternal value from within ourselves by our own strength or resources (see Truth One). But the Spirit comes to us with a truckload of gifts and Godly attributes the world cannot understand, nor receive, nor ever experience. They are only reserved for those who belong to Him. They are called fruits of the Holy Spirit, and by them, we can experience the abundant life in Christ— the Higher Christian Life.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law – Galatians 5:22-23.
And what do we do with these great blessings of Spiritual fruit? We live in them by letting the Spirit live through us. We embrace the life of surrender, the Higher Christian Life.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit – Galatians 5:25.
So rejoice in Him today. For you have everything you need, right now, to live a life of godliness and holiness, a life pleasing to the Lord (2 Pet. 1:3). And let’s begin to experience the Higher Christian Life today.
