It’s A Love Affair

By Tammy Lacock

“How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 3:3-5 KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman dives into Paul’s epistles once again. Continuing in Galatians chapter 3, he explains the “mystery” Paul speaks of in verses 3-5.

What is the “mystery” he mentions, which he has written of before in previous letters? Throughout Paul’s epistles, he tells us the great “mystery” is Christ literally living in every believer. By His sacrifice and grace, God has the power and the right to replace our old sin-nature (passed down from the curse of Adam by Satan), our old way of doing things, with the Seed of Christ in our very spirits. Here we are joined together with Him in one Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17); we are brand-new creations in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17). However, Paul says Christ living in us is a mystery only the Holy Spirit can reveal.

It was revealed to him, and he’s passing this knowledge onto us. The role of the Holy Spirit is to work in our minds to reveal knowledge of who we are now in Christ. We could sit in countless church sermons and never hear Christ as the very life of the believer. So Paul tells us in verse 4 to read what he’s been writing about, follow him as he follows Christ (1 Corinthians 1:11), and the Holy Spirit will reveal this to us as well.

Warren continues by explaining how Paul tells us to live once we’ve had the “revelation of the mystery” of Christ living in us. Although we our saved in our spirits, we have yet to be saved in our sinning minds. Only by the continual work of the Holy Spirit in our minds, by revelation, do we begin to understand our new life in Christ.

Paul goes further to say, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5 KJV). We aren’t saved from our sinning minds because, as Warren explains, it’s in our minds where we develop and nurture our love affair with Christ. By the help of the Holy Spirit, our minds go through a process of renewal as we grow closer to Him and love Him. When we realize once and for all that our salvation isn’t contingent on what we do but on Christ’s finished work at the Cross and our new life in Him, then we are breaking through our subconscious mind to our conscious mind, knowing we now have a direct pipeline to Him. God loved us so much that His only begotten Son died as the sacrificial Lamb so this would be possible, so we would return to Him. Life is all about a personal love affair with Him through Christ. Paul likens this to a marriage in which we are the bride and Christ the bridegroom together as one in spirit; yet our minds are continually growing up in this knowledge.

Although we are complete in Christ, by His very life in us, it’s in our minds where we are maturing. By the help of the Holy Spirit, we begin to see that Christ is the real you and Christ is the real me. He lives in us because He loves us. The issue is love, and it’s in our minds where our choice to know Him and love Him becomes alive.