I have been trying to do the impossible this week, namely to grasp the enormous depth of these statements: "I am with you always," and "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Everything depends on the life with God in Christ being right.

Think about it:.Every day, all day long, Jesus is with me, the secret of my life, my joy, my strength, my wisdom. I have His mind. Humility and obedience are the pillars of His mind-set. He lived only to please the Father, and to bless people. He did so in absolute dependence upon the Holy Spirit, and unrelenting obedience to Him. And now He actually continuously indwells every one of us who have received Him (Jesus) as Savior.

His death did far more than rescue us from the penalty of sin. The rest of the gospel includes His immediate personal presence, and His mind in us. There is one more infinitely significant thing: He loves us. Read John 15.(especially verse 9) "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you." Think about that! And in John 17.23, Jesus is talking to the Father and says ..."you have loved them even as you have loved me."

The final step is that we are to love each other as He has loved us. Can you get your handles around all that? When I try to realize what He is saying here, I find It is totally beyond my ability.

But it is not beyond His! That is why He lives in us, and has given us His mind.

Trust me-----these realities are worth the time it takes to consider them in great depth. .

bh March 1, 2008