"What God accomplished in Christ" to rescue us (from darkened or veiled identity) is what gives our faith equal value. (If righteousness had anything to do with personal merit or performance, then only the good enough amongst us would qualify. The word, lanchano, to be measured out beforehand, to be allocated as something by allotment, emphasizes the fact that nothing we did or determined to achieve had any influence upon God to qualify us.
Faith is not a reward for personal diligence; it is everyone's portion; no one's faith is inferior to anyone's because God sees all equally justified in Jesus Christ. Salvation belongs to everyone based on exactly the same merit. God's righteousness is responsible for our faith. (Romans 1:17--emphasis mine)
With a faith of equal content as our reference, we may now increasingly know ourselves the way God has always known us....God's powerful intervention is the authority behind all this. He gifted us with all that it takes to live life to the full. Because of what God knows (about our original design,) He introduced us as it were to ourselves again (kaleo, to surname) because it was His intention to restore His glory and virtue (through who and whose we really are).
Do you see that the stage is set (with the dramatic presentation of the heart Jesus gave you) to display life's excellence" through you? All of this is by virtue of "Christ in you" as your hope and full assurance of sharing in His eternal life now and in the "sweet by and by"!
While we diligently rehearse the exact qualities of every divine attribute within us; the volume will rise with ever increasing gusto, guarding us from being ineffective and barren in our knowledge of the Christ-life displayed with such authority and eloquence in Jesus." These incredible attributes of Christ on display in and through us brings security to our life of faith!
Before an orchestra performance, the first violinist will give the exact note for every instrument to be finely tuned to that note. In the same way the faith of God gives that exact pitch. In Him, you and I are the choir director of our own life; as we study the full content of our faith; we will find virtue there, (Christ's life in and through us), and within virtue faith-inspired knowledge will voice its contribution.
As we walk our life of faith with Christ in us we gaze in the mirror of His glorious presence and thus keep our life in sync with Him, Papa and Holy Spirit! There we are daily (even moment by moment) introduced to our true self-Christ in us, the hope of Glory!
In the grip of who I am in Him, Ron Ross
Adapted from 2 Peter 1, The Mirror Translation
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