Jesus lives inside of each of us who choose to believe in and follow Him. This isn’t news to most of us who profess faith in Jesus Christ and in the holy, loving character of God. But how often do we live as if this is an absolute truth? We feel alone, yet our Creator is always with us in the very core of our beings; He is so close that He is actually inside of us. We feel powerless, yet all of the power of God Himself resides within our very being. More tragic still, we live as if Christ is not only absent, but as if we don’t believe in the things He said or even who He said He was.
Everywhere we look with our eyes, we have the opportunity to look through the eyes of Jesus. Remember, He is inside of us, filling our entire being. Think of it as if He is the layer of skin just beneath the visible layer we show to the world. Whatever comes out of us must pass through the filter of God. When we choose to look at sinful things, we are choosing to force them past Jesus and into our souls. He could stop the sight of what we see, but He loves us too much for that. He trusts us with the freewill He has granted us. He wants us to choose Him, not obey by force.
Every action we take is done with the hands of Jesus. Unfortunately we usually refuse to engage His help. We could do anything in His power (Philippians 4:13), but we choose to do it on our own. We believe we have the power to affect the change we want to see. When we sin, we ignore the fact that we have the ability to turn away from that temptation because we have every spiritual weapon at our disposal because Jesus is right there, waiting for us to choose to use His power.
Each desire we feel must either be approved by Jesus or else we choose to ignore His wise council and indulge at our own peril. He is our rock and our shield. He is the foundation within us, and is able to deflect any sin before it permeates our minds and bodies. He’s that real and that powerful. But it is up to us to decide if we believe that and if we will live as if it is true. We must choose.
As not just believers in – but followers of – Jesus, we must choose if we will take Him at His word. We must choose if we really trust in His character, if we believe in His power and love. He wants only the best for our lives and He has chosen to dwell inside of us, filling us with His Spirit, so that we can choose Him in every moment of our lives. When you look at something, remember you are in all reality looking through the eyes of Jesus. When you have an idle thought, it should always be through the filter of Christ. And when you set your hands to do anything, remember you can choose to call on His power. Everything we see, think, and do, should be through the lens of Jesus because He lives within our very soul.