Are You Living Into Your Exchanged Life?
The Exchanged Life
How are you doing in your soul? What is the condition of your spirit – the deepest part of you? It may take a moment to access your inner state, but it is good to check-in with yourself from time-to-time.
The apostle Paul said the Kingdom of God is a matter of “Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17) This is what the Life of Christ looks like in us. Jesus described His life as restful, rightly fit for us and light. (Matthew 11:28-30) Deep down within yourself, do you sense righteousness, peace, joy, rest and lightness? Or do you feel cluttered and weighed down on the inside?
At the core of the Christian life is a death and resurrection. Jesus’ crucifixion is a payment for our sin-saturated lives and a release from sin’s strangle-hold. His resurrection demonstrates the power of the Holy Spirit and is a picture of new, supernatural life. This inner life of Christ is accessed through faith. Jesus’ death and resurrection are both applied to our lives through faith. This makes all the difference in our inner spirits. Our sinful nature is crucified, and His resurrection life emerges. Our life is exchanged for His at the deepest center of who we are; our very nature is changed.
Paul described his exchanged life saying,
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
It involves a willingness to let go of our own self-directed, self-centered, self-sufficient, self-stained, self-weighted lives in order receive and take hold of Christ’s supernatural life. This exchange is what Jesus was referring to when He said,
“Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25)
The exchanged life is a miraculous gift of God. The nature of Christ is imparted into our spiritual and identity core. All we need to do is learn to rest in Christ’s sufficiency. No longer do we need to strive to become something we are not. We can simply live in the reality of His life and forgiveness within us.
Self-effort at best can give us a sense of achievement, but it cannot satisfy the deeper longings of the soul. Righteousness, peace, joy, rest and deep contentment are only found in reliance on Jesus. Does this make sense to you? If so, take a moment and be refreshed in your spirit. If not, know that God has more for you – a deep, satisfying, miraculous life.
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