ROMANS 8:10

“If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”

I have shared about my two stem cell transplants in the past. Do you understand what that entails? After my body was “prepared” to receive the stem cells through chemotherapy and other drugs, I was left in an immune-depressed state. I had to be isolated to reduce the risk of infection since I had nothing in my body to fight even a slight cold. My bone marrow was essentially killed off. But then…I received back into my body the life-giving stem cells that had been harvested from me. Those stem cells resurrected my physical body from the point of death.

Paul tells us in today’s verse that it is Christ in us Who gives us life through His Spirit. I was instantly reminded of my life verse found in Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” This mystical indwelling of the Spirit of Christ cannot be explained in human terms. It can only be experienced.

APPLICATION

I want to urge you to look up Albert Barnes’ commentary on this verse (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/romans/8-10.htm). It is worth the read. Let me give you just a sample of what he writes. In speaking about the Spirit of Christ which indwells followers of Christ, he says, “This spiritual presence, which is the bond of union, is manifested immediately upon a man’s reception of Christ by faith. From that hour he is one with Christ, because the same Spirit lives in both.” I just love that.

We are told by Jesus in John 14:20, “‘On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I in you.’” One chapter later in John 15:4 we read this, “‘Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.’” Take a minute and read all of John 15 to get a good mental image of this indwelling Paul is talking about.

Just as I depended on those stem cells to “indwell” me to give me physical life, I depend on the Holy Spirit to indwell me to give me spiritual life. My physical body will die one day. My disease will probably return which will require another treatment. But my spiritual life is sealed with His Spirit, and He will indwell me until my last breath when I will then be with Him in glory. So, the question is “Who gives you life?

You are the life in me that drives me daily to do Your will, O Lord.

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