Resurrection!

I am not a nothing. I am not small, diminished and unimportant. That insignificant me died. Wanna know the really awesome thing about death? Resurrection! I am ALIVE! I died so that I can have a freaking awesome and amazing resurrected life with the glory of Christ glowing through all the uniqueness of my personality! Yeah. That's Christianity. Not me getting out of the way, but Christ creating a better me and living through me. Us together in living unity!

Romans 6:6 For if we have been planted together in the likeness
of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Colossians 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who
hath raised him from the dead.

Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

I am not waiting for resurrection, I am resurrected -- as Christ died, I died; as Christ resurrected, I resurrected. And this new life is supercharged! Look at Ephesians 2:

At salvation we were 'quickened' which means "made alive together."

At salvation we were 'raised up' to sit in heavenly places, which means "to raise up together from mortal death to a new and blessed life dedicated to God"

Interestingly, this Greek word (synegeirō) for 'raised up' is the same word used in Col 2:12 and 3:1, so it clearly refers to THE resurrection life.

Paul doesn't just say this is something we will have 'some day,' he makes it clear that it is a spiritual reality NOW. We are resurrected.

I am not only resurrected, I am a brand new creation.

II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The old me died, I was resurrected as a new me with the life of Christ as my very breath. I think one of my favorite verses is Galatians 2:20 which says, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Seriously, this whole life is no longer the old, insignificant, messed up me. It's the brand new, alive me. Paul says he is crucified, but he's ALIVE cuz JESUS is alive in him (It would be wrong to say "I no longer exist, because Paul clearly refutes that thought here, and that would leave us with a bunch of Christians with identical personalities, likes, dislikes, temperaments, etc. Kinda weird doctrine there!). So, I'm a brand new, God-creation and the alive thing about me is Jesus and the new-creation me.

OK, how do I say this clearly... All of my personality traits, my temperament, my gifts, talents, etc. Everything that makes me the person that God created me to be is now FREE to shine out PURELY and beautifully the way he intended, all to the glory of God! I can stop fretting about screwing up this Christian life, because he has taken care of it all! He has already made it so I can't screw it up. It's all him now. It's all him and the real me. The true me. The perfect awesome me. He has made me whole and new and amazing, and he did it all at the moment of salvation!

WOW!

So why is it that as Christians we are constantly putting ourselves down and ragging on our imperfections? Why do we think God needs us out of the way so he can do his work? He chose us, he loves us, he indwells us, he recreated us in his image and we are no longer in that fallen mess that we used to be, we are perfected in Him, and we are ALIVE! Do you realize how empowering that is? God has made us "meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: (Col 1:12) and has reconciled us to himself in order "to present [us] holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: (Col 1:22)"

Good stuff! We aren't nothing. Hear that voice in your head? Don't listen to it! Oh, and by the way... this is another blog entirely, but you weren't a nothing before salvation either. Everyone is significant. John 3:16 FOR GOD SO LOVED.... :)