Friday: Further Thought – Living With Christ
Daily Lesson for Friday 13th of March 2026
Further Thought
“When the Spirit of God controls mind and heart, the converted soul breaks forth into a new song; for he realizes that in his experience the promise of God has been fulfilled, that his transgression has been forgiven, his sin covered.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
He has exercised repentance toward God for the violation of the divine law, and faith toward Christ, who died for man’s justification. ‘Being justified by faith,’ he has ‘peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Romans 5:1.
“But because this experience is his, the Christian is not therefore to fold his hands, content with that which has been accomplished for him. He who has determined to enter the spiritual kingdom will find that all the powers and passions of unregenerate nature, backed by the forces of the kingdom of darkness, are arrayed against him. Each day he must renew his consecration, each day do battle with evil. Old habits, hereditary tendencies to wrong, will strive for the mastery, and against these he is to be ever on guard, striving in Christ’s strength for victory. . . .
“The power of a higher, purer, nobler life is our great need. The world has too much of our thought, and the kingdom of heaven too little.
“In his efforts to reach God’s ideal for him, the Christian is to despair of nothing. Moral and spiritual perfection, through the grace and power of Christ, is promised to all. Jesus is the source of power, the fountain of life. . . . In our behalf He sets in operation the all-powerful agencies of heaven. At every step we touch His living power.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, Pages 476–478.
Discussion Questions
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We become quite good at putting Christian words together that sound nice but are often meaningless outside of our own church confines. Read this:
That is AI mumbo-jumbo written for an Adventist audience. I guess we can tease it apart and make sense of it in our own minds, but try explaining that to our secular friends. The issue that I want to highlight this morning is that we talk about living with Christ and very few of us get down to the personal level in our comments. It weighs very heavily on my mind that in this forum, we are often so impersonal that we could be just AI Bots generating comments for one another. We do not know one another, we are just disembodied voices writing impersonal devotional messages.
I am sure that in real life we all live our Christianity in the matrix of family relationships, work situations, and social experiences. And a lot of that is not about overt statements that “I am living with Christ!” We need to hear about the real action “you”!
The “So heavenly minded, we are no earthly use!” meme is true if all we can do is string spiritual words together. Christianity is about living as sales-persons, teachers, mechanics, poets, homemakers, chicken-pluckers, hospitality workers. electricians, truck-drivers, or even academics. In this forum, we need to show that we are more than Christian “large language model” comment generators.
I wholeheartedly agree with your comments Maurice. There is experimental Christianity and theoretical Christianity. Certain things can only be understood if they are happening in our lives. To experience true Christianity, we have to “want it.” We will only get it by praying “in the Spirit “, putting God first with deep bible study, meditating on the word, and fasting. When we connect with the Spirit, He will direct us to others who are having the same experience as described in Romans 8:16.
If we are not having this connection with the Spirit, we should be honest with ourselves and acknowledge that we need it. Our prayers should then be focused and deliberate. We should tell the spirit that we want Him to give us that deep connection. This has to be our daily prayer. We should tell the Spirit that we give Him permission to fill us. Let him that we want an experimental knowledge of him. Beg Him for it, fight with Him for it, hunger and thirst for it. Do not stop, even though we may not believe that He is hearing, keep on fighting. One day, we will meet someone who is having the same experience, and we will become friends. We will begin encouraging each other because only people who are experiencing what we are going through, will understand us. We will begin praying for each other and our lives will be different. This has nothing to do with how long we have been in the church or how hard we are working for the church. God is looking for those who are worshipping him “in Spirit and in truth. “
Maurice, You have done just that. Thank you for your vulnerability and personal heart talk every day! I look forward to your writing.I feel you are a part of my life. I hope to get to Australia some day just to visit you!
The same weighs on me too. Even in church people barely know each other outside of “Happy Sabbath” and “How are you”. I don’t know that anyone invites others to their home for lunch and talks about personal lives and how they practice true Christianity. That happens only if you “click”. Last Sabbath I had a talk with an older member after I made a comment in the sabbath school. It perpetuated him telling me a story of him that led us both cry, and I have known this man for 8 years yet we have never talked like that. My opinion of him changed as I had no idea what a godly man he was. I am trying to say that unless Christianity becomes practical and inter-relational, it’s only an inch deep with all its philosophies.
How about we are heavenly minded, rendering us of earthly value. If we are of earthly value for our Master we need to have a heavenly mindset. Let’s go back and summarize a heavenly mindset. I ask you how can we live with Christ if we don’t allow Christ to work in us to develop a heavenly mindset? Basically, as we read Colossians chapter 3 in verses 5-9 Paul is telling us what not to do now that we are born again into Christ, and with Christ. Colossians 3:5-9. Then verses 12-17 gives us counsel on what to do to be heavenly minded. Colossians 3:12-17.
Looking at the title of next week’s lessons, Living With Each Other. We most likely will be on verses 18-25. Colossians 3:18-25.
Maurice maybe we had better get the techies to put in verification that you are not a robot before it allows you to post. Just slide the box to the right to verify your authenticity, as a member of the human race.😃
Hehe! You may notice that I leave a few clues in my comments John. No AI bot would make grammatical and syntactic errors in its comments. And I purposely set my spell checker to “Australian” Do you think that provides authenticity? 🙂
I believe that to those who were wise to understand the situation we are-in in these times cannot be fooled and easily sway by earthly things. let’s focus on heavenly things, by daily thinking I wanna be in heaven, and every act I made daily will be the fragment of the great act that i wanted to be done once i won the battle. happy Sabbath everyone.
The Bible teaches that there is a record in heaven concerning our lives, where our deeds—whether good or bad—are known before God (Revelation 20:12). From a human perspective, I may appear better than many people I know; my reputation may seem decent, and when compared with figures such as Hitler, Judas Iscariot, or even the thief on the cross who mocked Christ instead of repenting while time was slipping away, I may appear far more respectable or even “holier.” Yet God’s standard is not based on comparison with others but on His own holy character (1 Peter 1:16). Measured against that perfect standard, my sins weigh heavily upon me, for “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
In truth, even at my very best I remain a sinner who urgently needs Christ; my heart is crooked, conflicted, and often tainted by self-interest, echoing the Scripture that says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). One day I will stand before a holy Judge, and my actions, inactions, thoughts, and words will be weighed (2 Corinthians 5:10). Yet the good news of the gospel is that if I turn from my sin and my self-righteousness and place my faith firmly in Jesus Christ, I can receive mercy and a favorable judgment, because Christ has borne my sins and delivers me from the power of sin—“for by grace you have been saved through faith… not of works” (Ephesians 2:8–9), and “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1)
For our part,justification by faith means recognizing the high prize Jesus had to pay to redeem us and acknowledging its implication on our lives.
Usually earthly good without heavenly mindedness results in personal gratification and disapointments.
It is my humble plea that my influence as well as that of the church will glorify God and lead others to Him.
Our unity in Christ is the source of our strength.
In the above passage from The Acts of the Apostles, Ellen G. White clearly shows that the gospel is not merely about forgiveness but about transformation. The believer experiences genuine peace with God through justification by faith, as described in Romans 5:1. Our sins are forgiven, and we stand accepted before God through the merits of Christ.
However, she immediately guards against the false idea that once forgiven, the Christian simply remains in the same condition. The one who enters the spiritual kingdom discovers that the old nature, sinful habits, and the powers of darkness are still at work. Therefore the Christian life becomes a daily struggle in which consecration must be renewed and victory sought through Christ’s strength. This directly rejects the popular notion that Jesus saves us in our sins.
I appreciate your words of explanation. So true. It is encouragement for our souls. The struggle persisted becomes a walk with Christ as a friend, a friend that is always by our side to share our trials, and our ups and downs. Thus, as you say by faith, clinging onto the One who wants to make our burden light. Matthew 11:28-30. Yes, Christ saves us from our sins, not in our sins, by forgiveness. Colossians 1:13-14, and by keeping us from sin by faith in Him, He will answer our request. Psalm 23:3. Matthew 6:12-13. Psalm 3:3. I must add that a walk with Christ is also a walk in His commandments. Joshua 22:5. Attained(gifted) by a daily relationship with Him.
I’ve learned that “Living with Christ” ironically means being crucified with Him (Galatians 2:20). This includes:
– living in submission to Him
– putting on love, by literally setting our minds on the things of God (Col 3:14)
– being raised from baptism with the mortification/eradication of expressions of sin from our lives (Romans 6:3-7)
– working together, in self-denial, as parts of one body (2Corinthians 12:17-19)
– putting on God’s armor of light; glorify God, through the Savior (Romans 13:12); (2Corinthians 4:6).
“Living the New Life”
involves embracing the character and language of Christ, “… admonishing each other with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs …” (Colossians 3:16-17; Ephesians 5:29).
As a commissioned teacher/instructor, I am drawn to avenues by which characters may be influenced, positively, for eternity. Here is one of E. G. White’s timeless shares:
“How often in spiritual experience … by words of holy song are unsealed in the soul the springs of penitence and faith, of hope and love and joy!
It was with songs of praise that the armies of Israel went forth to the great deliverance under Jehoshaphat. …
The history of the songs of the Bible is full of suggestion as to the uses and benefits of music and song. Music … rightly employed, it is a precious gift of God, designed to uplift the thoughts to high and noble themes, to inspire and elevate the soul.” Ed 168
May we, throughout our generations, emulate God’s character of forgiveness; and seek the ultimate peace in Christ, through whom we become changed.