What kind of relationship does God want us to have with Him? Some people reject the idea of God, or at least choose to ignore Him; they want nothing to do with Him. Others, perhaps out of fear, want to know what they should do to please Him and how they should worship Him. Our human concept tells us that we must do good if we want to please Him. In a superficial way the Bible seems to lend support to such concepts. It tells us that we should worship and fear God, that we should do His will, and that we should do our best to please Him.
Such a relationship to God fits our natural concept. For the most part, the religious instruction we have received, even in Christianity, reinforces this innate desire we have to fear, love, and serve the Supreme Being.
The true intent of God as revealed in the Bible, however, far exceeds what man has conceived. It is so profound that without light from God we cannot grasp it. God wants to be in man, to work Himself into man, and to be man’s life to such an extent that He becomes man and man becomes one with Him.
Although at times we may see a little glimmer of light regarding God’s desire, our daily living remains unaffected. We go on trying to love God, to fear Him, and to please Him. We give little consideration as to how we can let God be our life and how we can be one with Him.
When God partook of human form (Phil. 2:7), that is, when “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14), His name was called Jesus. He lived as a simple carpenter in a humble home. There was no majesty about Him. He had “no form nor comeliness” (Isa. 53:2). Think of it! The infinite God became a finite being, living and working on this earth for thirty years. Jesus of Nazareth was the one man who was in union with God. Within was God; without was man. God lived in man, and man lived out God.
When the Bible describes the life of this One, there is little mention of His keeping outward forms of worship. Rather, His life is described as being intertwined with the Father’s. “The living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father....I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me. The words which I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; but the Father Who abides in Me, He does His works” (John 6:57; 14:10). The Father and the Son were one. The Father was in the Son as the Son’s life, and the Son lived out the Father. They were two Persons with one life, that of the Father, and one living, that of the Son.
Such a relationship with God is not in man’s concept. But this union of God and man is not only for Jesus of Nazareth. In Jesus there was God. God wants you also to have Him within. God was the life of Jesus Christ. God wants to be your life also. Jesus lived out God. You are also to live Him out.
Can you say that when you live, God lives? that God is your life? that you are God’s living? that God lives in you? that for you to live is God? Paul had the boldness to say, “To me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Surely it is true to say that Christ lives in you and that He is your life! This is the plain word of the Bible.
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