Day 68: What is Your Position vs. Your Condition?
Understanding the difference between your “position” IN Christ and your current “condition,” is very important as you seek to follow Jesus. Some people call this your “Standing” versus your “State.” Your Position is who you are in the Lord-God’s eternal family. Your condition is what you are thinking and doing in any moment. We will spend all of our lives “working out our salvation” so that our condition will one day reflect our position – who we are in our depths.
Ephesians 2:6-7
…. He [God the Father] raised us up with him [Christ] and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Christ is now in Heaven. He is at the Father’s right hand overseeing, sustaining and holding together all of creation, moving all things toward His good and glorious conclusions (see Colossians 1:17 and Hebrews 1:3). He has accomplished his saving work and Has provided us with an eternal redemption. You should be convinced by now that God saves you by His grace – He has made us alive with Christ. But notice what else He has done: He has raised us up and seated us with Christ in the Heavenly realms!!!
If you look at your present situation you will very quickly come to the conclusion that you don’t look like you are a “heavenly person.” But remember, it is your position that determines your identity. Spiritually, God has raised you up to a new glorious life with Christ. You are truly a new creation!!!
This reality is one that we will explore in terms of our condition (what is true about us in the present, both good and bad) and our position in Christ (what is spiritually true of us even if the full reality is not present yet). In Ephesians 2:6, we hear that God has (past tense, already done!) “raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the Heavenly realms.” This is a spiritual reality even if it is not an experiential reality yet.
In Paul’s letters, he will often use the phrase “in Christ” or “in Him” to help believers like you and me understand their new identity and position before God. One passage that summarizes this idea well is this one:
2 Corinthians 5:17
So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
what is old has passed away – now look, what is new has come!
It is very important for you to see that Paul’s phrase “in Christ” is not simply a preposition—it is a position. And your new position “in Christ” brings tremendous blessings for you! Because of what Christ has done for you, you now have an entirely new way of life with a new identity and a new position before God.
Our life is sustained by our vision. Our vision is not just what we see with our eyes, but more importantly, what we “see” with our heart and minds—what we believe to be true about ourselves and our world and realize first in our imaginations. Our spiritual vision comes from what we read and hear in the Word of God. God has spoken things about us and His words define our present reality. He has called us; He has given us new names; He has set us apart for Himself. All of this changes who we are and where we belong. In Christ, you also have been granted everything you need to complete your journey to your eternal destination with Christ. Your Heavenly Father has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
As we think about our identity being shaped and formed to reflect the glory of Jesus, we must realize that God is emptying us of everything that would hinder us from realizing the joy and power of being “filled” with all of His goodness. He is transforming us into people who reflect His glory in all that we are and do. One day, we will do this completely when we become full partakers of Jesus’ own glory:
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14
But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 2:14 He called you to this salvation through our gospel, so that you may possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the next several sessions, we are going to focus on 12 foundational positional truths that define your identity in Christ. Take a look at these 12 statements:
In Christ, you are Chosen By Father-God.
In Christ, You are Sanctified, Set Apart by the Spirit.
In Christ, You are Reborn into a New and Living Hope.
IN Christ, You are Adopted in to the Family of Father-God.
In Christ, You are Justified, Set Right with God.
In Christ, You are Redeemed by Jesus’ Blood.
In Christ, You are Forgiven of All Your Sins.
In Christ, You are Reconciled, at Peace with God.
In Christ, you are Delivered from the Dominion of Darkness.
In Christ, you are Transferred to the Kingdom of Christ.
In Christ, you are Glorified, Being Perfected to be like Jesus.
In Christ, you are Set Free from Sin, Shame and Death.
These 12 statements touch on the foundational realities of what it means to have New Life in Christ. There are many more blessing that we have in Christ (see the chart at the end of this lesson). However, if you understand these 12 aspects of who you are in Christ, you will be able to understand all the other statements of who we are “in Christ” that we see in the New Testament.
As you read through Paul’s letters in the New Testament, underline all of the verses that say something about who we are “in Christ” (“in Him”, “in the Lord”). These verse will become “mile-markers” for you as you read through the Scriptures.
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
