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We probably all have some ideas about what the Christian life is supposed to be. For instance, we might think it’s about imitating Jesus, behaving ethically, performing charitable works for God’s glory, or being a good person.
God certainly doesn’t want us to live in an immoral or unethical way. But even if we are upstanding people living according to excellent moral principles, does that make God happy? What kind of living truly pleases God?
In order to answer these questions, we need to see what the Christian life is according to the Bible, not according to what we may have picked up from religious traditions or our own concepts. In this post, we’ll address this subject in a brief way by reading verses and notes in the New Testament Recovery Version.
When we repented and believed in Jesus, we received God’s forgiveness. But that’s not all. We were also born again with the divine life of God. That’s why John 3:6 says:
“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
And 1 Corinthians 15:45 tells us that when Jesus resurrected from the dead, “The last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving Spirit.”
As the life-giving Spirit, Christ enters all those who believe in Him to live in them, that is, in their human spirit. This is the meaning of regeneration: our spirit was born of the Spirit, and now Christ as the Spirit is with us all the time. Second Timothy 4:22 clearly says:
“The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.”
It’s an astounding fact that Christ as the life-giving Spirit is now in our spirit!
But what do these verses about being born of the Spirit and Christ being the life-giving Spirit have to do with our Christian life? Everything!
Simply put, Christ came into us so He could be our life and so we could live by Him. This is what the New Testament reveals to us, especially in the epistles of Paul.
Before the apostle Paul was saved, he was zealous for the law of God given through Moses. As a Pharisee, he belonged to the strictest sect of the Jewish religion. The four Gospels record the Pharisees’ hostility toward Jesus throughout His ministry. Even after Jesus was crucified and resurrected, the Pharisees, including Paul, continued to persecute His believers. But one day, the resurrected Jesus appeared to Paul, and he was saved. From that day on, Christ lived in Paul.
In Philippians 1:21, Paul said something striking:
“To me to live is Christ.”
Paul didn’t say that he was living according to the law of God, or even according to a new religion. He said that for him, to live is Christ. But what does this mean?
The first part of note 1 on this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version explains:
“Paul’s life was to live Christ. To him, to live was Christ, not the law or circumcision. He would not live the law but would live Christ, not be found in the law but be found in Christ (3:9). Christ was not only his life but also his living. He lived Christ because Christ lived in him (Gal. 2:20). He was one with Christ in both life and living. He and Christ had one life and one living. They lived together as one person.”
After Paul was born again, his life radically changed. He was no longer interested in striving to live according to the law or having a good, upright life. He realized Christ was in him as his life, which meant He could be his living. Actually, as the note states, Christ and Paul lived together as one person.
[[Free Study Bible]]
The last part of this note says:
“Christ lived within Paul as Paul’s life, and Paul lived Christ without as Christ’s living. The normal experience of Christ is to live Him, and to live Him is to magnify Him always, regardless of the circumstances.”
So the normal experience of Christ isn’t striving to be like Him. It’s also not trying to remember everything Jesus said and did or asking ourselves what Jesus would do in any given situation.
Rather, our normal experience of Christ is to live Him, which is to magnify Him, regardless of our circumstances.
The concept of magnifying Christ appears in Paul’s own writing in Philippians 1:20, where he says: “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death.”
To magnify something is to make it appear larger and more visible. As Paul lived Christ, Christ was expressed and even magnified through him; He was made visible for all to see.
When Paul wrote to the Philippian believers about magnifying Christ, he wasn’t in the easiest of circumstances. In fact, he was a prisoner in Rome. But regardless of his outward situation, Paul aspired to live Christ and magnify Him, through life or even through death, so that others could see Christ.
At the end of Paul’s epistle, we get a glimpse of the effect his living had on those around him. In Philippians 4:22, he wrote:
“All the saints greet you, and especially those of Caesar’s household.”
Here, Paul sent greetings to the Philippian believers from the saints—that is, the believers—in Rome, and especially from those of Caesar’s household.
Nero was the Roman emperor at the time of Paul’s writing, and history tells us he was exceedingly immoral, cruel, and evil. Yet some in his household believed in Christ! How could such a thing have happened?
Note 1 on those of Caesar’s household in this verse explains:
“Caesar’s household comprised all who were attached to the palace of Nero. Some of these were converted through contact with Paul and became believers in Christ in Rome.”
Paul was seemingly just a lowly prisoner suffering in a fearful situation. Yet even in those circumstances, he lived and magnified Christ, the One who was his life and could endure any kind of suffering. What people saw was not Paul behaving as a good or admirable man, but the peerless Jesus living and being expressed through him. Because Paul magnified Christ, even some of Caesar’s household became believers.
Paul truly is a pattern for all believers today. He realized that since Christ as the life-giving Spirit was within him, he and Christ had one life and one living, even living together as one person. This is the way God desires all of us to live. Only this kind of living results in us expressing Christ and magnifying Him.
So every day we must turn to Christ in our spirit, again and again. We need to contact Him by calling on His name and praying short prayers throughout the day. We can talk to Him about anything and everything.
For example, no matter where we are, we can pray something like this:
“Oh, Lord Jesus. I don’t know how to respond to this person. Thank You, You’re with me right now. I don’t want to express myself. Lord, I want to live You and magnify You in this situation.”
As we contact the Lord in our spirit, we allow Him to be our life. Then in a practical way, we can be one with Him and live Him. Spontaneously, we’ll express His feelings, words, and actions, and not our own. Like those of Caesar’s household saw in Paul, others will see in us something more excellent than a good person living an upright life. They’ll see the beauty of Jesus Christ in His virtues such as patience, love, endurance, and kindness being expressed through us. This is the living that pleases God and fulfills His eternal purpose.
We could only give a basic introduction to the matter of living Christ in this post. If you live in the US, we encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here so you can read all the verses cited with their accompanying notes and cross-references.
Faith is essential to our Christian life. After all, 2 Corinthians 5:7 states that we believers “walk by faith, not by appearance”—that is, not by what we see in our environment or circumstances.
But when we’re facing difficulties, we may find it hard to put our trust in God and feel we don’t have enough faith to sustain us. When we find ourselves in this condition, what do we do? How can we practically walk by faith?
Today, we’ll focus on Matthew 14 with some accompanying footnotes in the New Testament Recovery Version to see what it means to walk by faith.
The Bible doesn’t just speak about faith in general terms. It shows us what faith looks like in real life. For example, one of the clearest accounts is found in Peter’s experience of walking on the water in Matthew 14:22-33.
After the miracle of feeding the five thousand, Jesus compelled His disciples to get into a boat and go before Him to the other side of the sea. Then He went up to the mountain alone to pray to the Father. During the night, strong winds blew, and waves battered the boat the disciples were in. That’s when Jesus came to them, walking on the sea.
The disciples thought they were seeing a ghost, and they became fearful. But in verse 27, Jesus said:
“Take courage. It is I. Do not be afraid.”
Peter responded in verse 28:
“Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
In verse 29, Jesus simply said to Peter:
“Come.”
At the Lord’s command, Peter stepped out of the boat and, incredibly, he also began to walk on the water toward Jesus.
This shows an important principle: faith comes from the Lord’s speaking. Peter didn’t walk on the water because of a special gift or power he had; he simply responded to the Lord’s command.
Then verse 30 says:
“But seeing the strong wind, he [Peter] became frightened; and as he began to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me!”
Note 1 on seeing the strong wind in the Recovery Version explains:
“Peter came down from the boat and walked on the water by faith in the Lord’s word (v. 29); however, when he saw the strong wind, his faith vanished. He should have walked by faith in the Lord’s word, not by looking at the circumstances (i.e., by sight). In following the Lord we should walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).”
The wind and battering waves had been there the whole time Peter was walking on the water. But the problem was that his focus suddenly shifted from the Lord and His word to the stormy environment around him. As a result, his faith disappeared, he became frightened, and he began to sink.
Of course, Jesus didn’t leave Peter to sink in the sea. Verse 31 says:
“And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him and said to him, You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
In the Recovery Version, note 1 on doubt in verse 31 explains:
“Since the Lord said to Peter, ‘Come’ (v. 29), Peter should have stood on that word and should not have doubted. Hence, the Lord rebuked him. Faith comes from the Lord’s word and stands on the Lord’s word. As long as we have the Lord’s word, we should simply believe in His word and not doubt.”
[[Free Study Bible]]
Peter began walking on water by faith in the Lord’s word. But the moment he looked at the strong wind, his faith vanished. He no longer stood on the Lord’s word. This shows us that focusing on our environment instead of looking at the Lord and His word causes our faith to disappear.
Peter’s story matches our experience. Like Peter, we may begin our day with the Lord, enjoying His Word and standing on it. But as the day goes on, we become occupied with looking at and considering the “waves and winds” of our troubling circumstances. That’s when our faith seems to disappear, and we begin to sink in doubt.
At such times, we shouldn’t be discouraged about our seeming lack of faith. Instead, we need to remember that faith comes from the Lord’s word. We should exercise to turn our eyes from our environment, look at the Lord Jesus, and stand on His word. We can do this by calling on the name of the Lord, asking Him to speak to us, or opening our Bible to read a verse or two. The Bible is full of God’s speaking to us, and we’re saved from doubt by simply believing His word. Then we can walk by faith, not by sight, even in the midst of our stormy situation.
If you live in the US, we encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here so you can read all of the notes on the verses mentioned in this post.
It’s nearly impossible to ignore the many distressing issues confronting us today. While health crises, violence, war, environmental disasters, and economic instability have always existed, because of modern technology, we’re constantly inundated by a continuous stream of anxiety-inducing updates. In the midst of this endless barrage, having anything resembling peace of mind can seem impossible, even for Christians.
But the Bible tells us that even in the face of the world’s trying circumstances, we believers can experience genuine peace. Today, we’ll discover the source of that peace by looking at key verses from the New Testament Recovery Version. We'll also see how we can experience this peace all the time.
The crucial thing we need to realize is that real peace can only be found in the Lord Jesus. Two verses in the Gospel of John reveal that Jesus is the unique source of peace.
In John 14:27, Jesus said to His disciples:
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
In this comforting verse, the Lord Jesus told His disciples not to be troubled or afraid because the peace He gives us is His peace.
Jesus makes a contrast here between the peace of the world and His peace. It’s obvious that the peace the world gives is temporary at best. Even the most well-intentioned efforts to establish lasting peace among people and nations fail miserably, leading to more unsolvable problems.
But the peace the Lord Jesus gives us is real and lasting. He said, “My peace I give to you.” Only the Lord’s peace is true peace, and He has imparted it to us. So we shouldn’t let our hearts be troubled or afraid. Instead, we should cling to this precious promise and experience and enjoy His peace.
In John 16:33, Jesus said:
“These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have affliction, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
In this verse, we see another contrast. In the world we have affliction, but in Jesus we have peace. Although we have been saved and regenerated, we still live in this world, which is full of turmoil and suffering. But Jesus assures us, “In Me you may have peace.”
Where is peace? It’s in Jesus. Looking for lasting peace in anything or in anyone else is futile. We must come to Jesus to have true peace.
[[Free Study Bible]]
It’s easy for us to get overwhelmed by the many distressing things going on around us in the world today. But one practical way to help us experience the Lord’s peace is to first be aware of what we’re filling ourselves with. The Lord frankly told us that in the world we have affliction. This means when we fill ourselves with the world and the things of the world, our hearts will be troubled and even afraid.
We’ve all experienced feeling this way after we’ve spent time on our phones getting caught up on breaking news, scrolling endlessly on social media, and reading people’s opinions about everything. Being informed about current events is one thing, but being completely absorbed with them is another. More and more, the things we see online are designed to grab our attention and stir up strong emotions, usually negative ones.
When we feel unsettled, disturbed, and fearful, we should realize we’ve been focusing on the world and filling ourselves with the things of the world. In that moment, our need is to turn to the Lord in our spirit and contact Him, the source of peace.
The world is full of affliction, but Jesus also said that He has overcome the world. Instead of spending so much time on our phones occupied with the insurmountable problems of the world, we can focus on Jesus and be filled with the One who has overcome the world. We can do this by calling on His name, singing to Him, talking to Him in prayer, or reading His Word. This is how we can experience and enjoy Him as our real peace.
If you live in the United States, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version to help you experience genuine peace in the Lord Jesus.
