1 CORINTHIANS 1:30-31 – And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
THEME OF THE DAY. ALL WE NEED IS FOUND IN ALL CHRIST IS. How desperate are we for the Lord Jesus? Do we grasp the necessity of Him, not for only salvation, but for living the whole of the Christian life? When Jesus commands us to “abide in Him” (John 15:9), is there an overwhelming realization we must do this? Do we feel the yearning within our hearts producing the conviction we cannot exist, live for Him, and produce any fruit of the Christian life personally and before a watching world unless the abiding life is a daily reality?
Friends, Christ isn’t just our salvation. He is our life. Whole life. All the time. Jesus said, “Without me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Do we feel this each day of life? Are we driven to moment-by-moment reliance upon Him causing us to cry out for Him to teach us His sufficiency in our walk with Him? The Apostle John gives us a great insight on this type of life. He wrote . . . In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him (1 John 4:9). God the Father gave us His Son to not only save us, but for us to live all of life after salvation through Him. And in today’s scripture, we are given the truths we need to live out the Christian life in and through Christ. They cover every area.
First, Christ is our wisdom, but to understand the application, we need to define wisdom. It isn’t knowledge alone but contains knowledge. In its basic definition, wisdom is “knowledge applied” or “knowledge lived.” And how does this apply to us and the Lord Jesus? It is our daily commitment to “walk as He walked” (1 John 2:5-6). The wisest person ever to live will be the one who seeks to model Christ, live by His example, and let His Words, His steps, be what directs all of life.
Then, Christ is our righteousness. It is His perfect life given over as our own. This is a critical “piece of armor” when the devil reminds us of our unrighteousness. Don’t listen to him. Simply look to Jesus as our perfect standing before God. His righteousness freely imputed to us will silence any accusations of our unrighteousness.
A third application of the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus for us is that He is our sanctification. Theologians define this term as “being separated for God and His purposes” and includes the process of change; of becoming more and more like Christ in the course of living out the Christian life. And we apply Christ as our sanctification knowing that every circumstance, every event, and every situation is “Christ in us, forming Himself in us.” Learn to see Jesus as the One orchestrating all things for our sanctification. Such thinking will draw us to the abiding life in Him.
Finally, Christ is enough for all we need because He is our redemption. To be redeemed by Christ means being owned by Christ. This defines the Christian life – dead with Christ, raised with Christ, bought by Christ to live for Christ. Here is our freedom. Here is our joy. Here is contentment. Who Jesus bought by His grace; Jesus keeps by His grace. Learn to think about being Jesus’ purchased property. It will release us from the bondage of selfish living and set us free to be what we were redeemed for – to walk close to the Lord and serve as the Lord to all the hurting people around us.
Jesus is all we need. May we learn this truth that goes from knowing only to living it more fully in the daily challenges of the Christian life.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for granting me all I need in Your Son for life now and into eternity.”
QUOTE: “God has given us all things in His Son. Our responsibility is to learn how to live this truth.”