Live In Your Position Not Your Condition
“I can’t believe I did that!” Most of us have uttered those words. We get distracted and do something we wouldn’t do if we were paying attention. It’s like missing an exit on the freeway because you’re talking. Even though you’ve taken it a hundred times you missed it. You don’t always do what you know is the right thing to do.
The same is true in our Christian lives. There’s a biblical ideal, what we’re supposed to do. It is called our position in Christ. For example, we’re to be kind, loving, forgiving, peaceful and godly.
Even though we know this in our minds, often our actions don’t match this. Another way of saying this is our condition, how we act, doesn’t match our position. We get angry, worry, doubt and do all kinds of things that aren’t very Christian at all.
Every Christian who has ever lived has experienced this. To grow in our Christian lives we need to understand the difference between our condition and our position.
The Contrast Between Our Condition and Our Position
One way to demonstrate the difference between our condition and our position is to look at two verses that seem to contradict one another.
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Galatians 3:27
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:14
The verse in Galatians says when we became a Christian we put on Christ as a completed act in the past. The verse in Romans tells us putting on Christ is something we need to do. How can both be true? The answer is the first verse describes our position and the second describes our condition. Here is the contrast between our position and our condition.
- Our position is eternal, it never changes. At the moment we became a Christian we became a new creation 2 Corinthians 5:17. The Father sees us seated at His right hand Colossians 3:1. We’ve been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies Ephesians 1:3. Our old self was crucified with Christ and the sin nature rendered powerless over us Romans 6:6. These and many other wonderful things are true of our spiritual position as Christians.
- Our condition changes. Our condition is our Christian walk Colossians 2:6. We grow in our walk 2 Peter 3:18. We sometimes stumble and fall. We still have a sin nature and can sin 1 John 1:8-2:2 and walk in the flesh Galatians 5:16-21. But we don’t have to. We are free to choose godliness if we think about our position in Christ Romans 6:11-14.
[Tweet “The wonder of our position in Christ is we’re always free to choose godliness.”]
Here’s how it works. When anger stirs in your heart stop immediately. Imagine you’re sitting next to the Father in heaven and tell Him you’re ticked off and feel like cussing someone out. Ask the Father what cuss words He likes to use. Hmm, you don’t want to do that? You think He’d give you some other advice? Exactly. That’s the power of living in your position in Christ.
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