All of Christ and None Of Me? Not True.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me because My yoke is easy and My burden is light - Jesus.



I was talking with a friend recently about a prayer he had been taught years ago. The prayer expressed the desire for Christ to so "fill us" that is "all of Him and none of me." Hear me out on what I'm about to suggest, but I don't think that kind of prayer reflects God's purpose for our grace walk.

This well-intended sentiment is sometimes expressed like this: "Lord, I want them to see only you and not me." or "Lord, I want to completely get out of the way and You do it."

I understand the motivation behind that kind of prayer and it certainly is a proper motivation. It expresses a desire that Christ alone receive the glory for what's done, that He be the One who animates whatever the activity we do might be. There's nothing wrong with that desire. It's a good desire, a commendable one.

But the fact is that words mean something. What we say and how we think about things have subtle (if not major) impact on our perception of reality. As we grow in our grace walk, we sometimes need to put a magnifying glass on our words and thoughts and see if they line up with God's Word and with the truth we want to communicate. While we don't want to nit-pick each others words, there is an appropriate place for thinking about the things we say to make sure that we really mean what we are saying. In the case of the statements I've mentioned, I don't think they clearly express what the grace walk is all about.

You and Jesus Christ are in union together. It will never be all Him because He lives His life through you. Christ wants to take your personality, your knowledge, your skills, your uniqueness and animate it with His life. So it isn't just Him. It is Him through you, or to be more specific, it is Him as you. I know this approach can make some people feel uncomfortable. I assume you have enough knowledge of my views to realize that I'm not saying we are Jesus Christ. I am saying, though, that Jesus Christ has taken possession of you, lock, stock and barrel and that everything that makes you uniquely you is to be animated by Him.

I heard an old African-American country preacher once say, "One day there was a crippled man sitting by the gate outside the temple. Then along came Jesus all dressed up as Peter and John." That guy got the point I'm making! Do you get it? Jesus lives in such union with us that when we act in faith, it is Him acting. When He acts through us, it is still us acting. We are one.

Paul said that we are co-laborers together with Christ. We are co-laborers - meaning we both labor. We labor together - meaning it isn't just Christ who labors while we are "out of the way." We aren't out of the way. We are right there - in union with Him. We labor with Christ - so that it isn't Him acting apart from us nor us acting apart from Him. We are acting together, in sync.

So the sentiment that suggests it is all Him and none of us doesn't really describe God's plan for our grace walk. His desire is that it be all of Him and all of us. We each possess one hundred percent of each other. That's why it is called "union." When Christ lives His life through you as you do certain things in this life, is it you or Him? The answer is yes!