Matthew 9:9-10; Mark 2:14-15; Luke 5:27-29
And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. (Matthew 9:9)
When we first come to Jesus, it is impossible to know everything that following Him will entail. We have no reason to be afraid of making a total commitment to Him because His undeniable love and care for us is fully evident every time we look at the Cross. We can forsake everything to follow Him! Once we make that decision, then He begins to live through us and we find a strength that is not our own and is equal to whatever test we may encounter. (Gal. 2:20.) It is called God’s grace.
It is Christ living through us that is the secret of victorious Christian living. It is not us living for Jesus, but Jesus living through us. Failure to understand this simple truth is the root of all legalism and the performance mentality. The law focuses on the outer man and tells us what we must do. Grace focuses on the inner man and tells us what is already finished in Christ. When we focus on what we must do, we put ourselves under law; but when we focus on what Christ has done, we walk in the supernatural strength of His grace.
The Christian life is not just hard to live; it’s impossible to live in your human strength. The only way to be like Jesus and do the works of Jesus is to let Jesus live through you. Just as the life of a root is found in the soil, a branch in the vine, or a fish in the sea, your true life today will only be found in union with Jesus.