The meaning of Christ "dwelling" in us. - Part 1 of 8

Let me take you on a short, 8 part journey to understand the true meaning of how to have Christ dwelling in you - if you do, it'll change your life.

After understanding and accepting the gift that Jesus took on our sins so that we would be able to live in heaven for all eternity, you begin your journey as a Christian. Then you start to read the Word and maybe some of it's what you remember hearing before, but most of it becomes brand new information. Your perspective and understanding changes, your motivations and character begins to change and improve. You may get involved in a local church, maybe even a bible study. Your bible becomes your Owner's Manual or Survival Guide (depending on where you're at, I guess). But then along the way you hear about Jesus wanting to "dwell" in you. That's not a word you hear anymore. What exactly does that mean? to dwell?

One dictionary defines dwell this way: to live or stay as a permanent resident; reside. 2.to live or continue in a given condition or state: to dwell in happiness. That's a pretty good definition. It's not about temporary conditions, it's not a feeling, it's not dependent on circumstances that happen that moment, it's got nothing to do with how you're treated by others, it's a permanent, on-going state of being. So let's see how that relates to Jesus dwelling in us.

I know we all have good days and bad days. Some days we do well, make good choices, spend quality time with loved ones, and feel very blessed. Those days, it's easy to "feel" that Jesus is dwelling in you. You want to do good things, serve others, give people the benefit of the doubt, etc. But what about on those bad days?

Do you find yourself feeling more selfish? Do you end up in an end of the day pity party? Feel like a martyr doing everything for everyone else with no thank you's or acknowledgement for all you do? Do you feel like God's mad at you because you didn't get what you wanted? Or worse, because you ended up with something bad you didn't deserve because of someone else's choices? What about days like this? Still feel Jesus dwells in you? Hard, isn't it?

Here's what changed everything for me...in our adult Sunday school class, we were given little booklets called, "My Heart - Christ's Home" by Robert Boyd Munger. It's less than 30 pages and fits in your back pocket, but it changed everything for me. Here's the gist of it:

Rev 3:20 is where Jesus says he knocks on the door, and if we choose, we open the door and let Him in. I want you to begin to visualize this with me. You've invited Christ to make His home in you, so picture an actual house. Christ knocks on the literal door, you open it, and invite Him to move in. Step 1.

Because Jesus is your new guest, you want Him to be comfortable in your new home together. You start a tour to show Him around. The first place you go is the study or library. As He's standing there with you, you suddenly become aware of the books and magazines lying around and realize they make you embarrassed and Jesus seems a bit uncomfortable around them. The pictures on the walls are your thoughts, and now He's seeing them - the good AND the bad ones. You turn and ask Jesus if He would help you clean up this mess and make it how it ought to be. There's NO condemnation, no guilt trip, just a loving friend who says, "Of course I'll help you! I've come to make things better for you, to help you put things right." The major change after tossing out the bad or wrong things you'd been hanging onto is to hang a new picture on the wall, one of Jesus, hung centrally on the wall of your mind. You'll still struggle with controlling the other images, but it will get easier if you focus on Him first. When you focus on Jesus' presence, purity and power, the other images begin to back away. This is NOT about focusing on your mistakes of the past - just the changes needed to have a more successful future.

If you struggle in this room (of your mind), fill the study with His Word, bring Jesus here with you to study together. Learn from what the Scriptures have to say.