TAKE YOUR POSITION!
Your Position in Christ, Selected
"Many years ago, an NBA rookie was playing on the Chicago Bulls team with superstar Michael Jordan. During one particular game Jordon went wild and scored a magnificent sixty-eight points. The rookie rode the bench until the last minute of the game, when the coach graciously sent him in. He made a single free throw during the final seconds of the contest. When interviewed in the post-game show, the rookie was very pleased with himself. ‘Together,’ he said, ‘Michael Jordan and I scored sixty-nine points.’
"And so it is in our relationship with the Lord. We’re just rookies playing with the Legend. As long as He blesses our meager talent, it will be sufficient" (Dr. James Dobson, Life on the Edge) .
Do you realize that together you and God are a majority? And together you can turn the world upside down! God desires to take your inadequacies and add His strength to accomplish His purposes. In this study and in the months to come, we’re going to take a look at your position in Christ as you participate on God’s team. These truths can radically transform your walk!
TAKE YOUR POSITION!
When you submit yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ and allow Him to run your life, your name is written down on history’s greatest roster. Many new and exciting changes have and will continue to take place in and through your life as you come to know God by experience through Jesus Christ. God’s Word says that you are "a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17)! Let’s begin by looking at the first truth of your new position in Christ.
God has SELECTED you for a new position!
"Even as (in His love) He chose us—actually picked us out for Himself as His own—in Christ before the foundation of the world; that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach [blame, disapproval, condemnation], before Him in love. For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted [revealed] as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will—because it pleased Him and was His kind intent" (Ephesians 1:4,5 AMP).
You may think that you choose God, but the truth is that God personally "recruited" you to serve Him, to love Him, and to know Him personally. He has plans for you.
Read 1 John 3:1-2 and Romans 8:16-17. What is His plan? How are you described in these verses?
When God selected you to join His team, you became His child and He became your heavenly Father. God chose you to be the recipient of the great exchange as He took your old, dead spirit and replaced it with the life of Jesus Christ. You have a new heart; you are a new person. Author Bob George explains the exchange this way:
"Being made into a ‘new creation’ is somewhat like the caterpillar that has emerged from its cocoon as a new creature—a butterfly. As a caterpillar, it views life from the ground up. As a butterfly, it views life from the sky downward. In the same way, as a new creature in Christ, you must begin to see yourself as God sees you."
"When one looks at a butterfly, he doesn’t say, ‘There’s a converted worm.’ Although it originally was a worm, and it was converted, now it is a butterfly, a beautiful, graceful new creature. The same is true of God. He only sees you as a butterfly—His new creation in Christ."
Although you may not always act like a ‘butterfly,’ the truth of the matter is you are never going to be a worm again."
You are a new creation. Now the question is, "Do you see yourself as God sees you?" God is your heavenly Father who proudly announces your name in His line-up because…
God has thoughtfully PLANNED for you (Ps 139:13-16)
God deeply LOVES you (John 15:13,14)
God greatly VALUES you (Romans 5:6-8)
God DELIGHTS in you (Zephaniah 3:17)
Are you like many when it comes to understanding these truths? Do you know these to be true in your head, but find them difficult to believe in your heart? I began to better understand God’s perspective when one of my pastors said, "Not only does God love you, He likes you." God enjoys you and desires your companionship. He takes great pleasure in you being His precious child! Can you see the smile on His face and joy in His heart as He rejoices over YOU? It pleased God to select you!
TIME OUT!
- Together, you and God are a majority. Every day, every moment, is an opportunity for you to "play with the Legend"? Write down a few of the ways you have seen God take your inadequacies and add His strength to accomplish His purposes.
- Bob George wrote, "As a new creature in Christ, you must see yourself as God sees you." According to God’s Word, how does He view you? Back up your response with Scripture [i.e. valuable (Romans 5:60-8), righteous (Romans 5:17)].
- If you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you are a new creation. Do you live like a new creation? Has the truth of knowing that God has SELECTED you transformed your walk? How?