2 Peter 1:3 – “Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has ALREADY BEEN DEPOSITED in us by His divine power.”   [Emphasis added]

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word, I was overwhelmed with the depth of the reality of what having Christ in us means and looks like. We struggle to be or dismiss why we are not what He declared using human logic and reason.   We say things like, “I’m only human, or I’m not perfect.”    Please hear me, “We are not only human, and we are not perfect, but He is.”

Peter made an incredible revelation in 2 Peter 1:3, and in verse 4, he tells us that through those deposits, we are enabled to enter into a partnership with the divine nature.   So, Christ, “in” us, becomes Christ “through” us.  That enables us to become manifestations of His character, as depicted in the progressive list of qualities in verses 5-7: faith, goodness, understanding, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, mercy, and Agape.

Notice 2 Peter 1:8 – “Since [because] these virtues are ALREADY planted DEEP WITHIN, and you possess them in abundant supply, they will keep you from being inactive or in your pursuit of KNOWING Jesus Christ more intimately. ” [Emphasis added]

In verses 10-11, we find the declaration that we will not stumble, and the kingdom’s gates will open wide for us as God choreographs our triumphant entrance into the eternal kingdom!    It is not trying to produce it.   It is partnering with what is in us because He is “in” us, and He is those things.   It is Him being Himself “in” us.

What does Christ “in” us look like experientially?   It looks like Jesus. It exhibits a settled confidence in God. Jesus was in constant contact with the Father, and if He is “in” us, we are in constant contact with the Father.

The only way we do not manifest Him is revealed in 2 Peter 1:9 – “But if anyone lacks these things, he is blind, constantly closing his eyes to the mysteries of our faith, and forgetting his innocence-for his past sins have been washed away.”

The only way He is not manifested in us is when we willingly choose to be in control rather than partnering with Him and dying to ourselves.   If He is “in” us, He will live “through” us and be Himself “in” us, producing the fruit of righteousness as a natural result of that partnership.

We need to stop trying to be and let Him be what He is, transforming us into His likeness. We are “in” Him, and He is “in” us, so just BE! Relax and let Him be Himself in us.

Have a fantastic day, and live in full consciousness that Christ Jesus is “in” us and lives “through” us!