…that I Myself may be in them. John 17:26b
I stuck my nose into the white blossom of the star magnolia in my yard and inhaled sweetness. I wonder what God inhales when He puts His nose into my heart. If it’s sweet, it’s Christ in me. If it’s foul, it’s my own attempt at fragrance.
Christ Himself in me. I have soul-union with the living God! How does that work? Why on earth would the One that time and infinite space cannot contain do that?
“…this soul-union of which I speak, this unspeakably glorious mystery of an indwelling God is the possession of even the weakest and most failing believer in Christ.”[1] Hannah Whitall Smith
God has chosen to take up residence in this physical body of mine and be united to me. I am the dwelling place of God. I am not my own anymore. Every day, all day, every thought that runs through my mind, every word spoken, everything I do is in union with Jesus Christ. That should change everything.
I have been hovering over Ephesians 1:3 for quite some time: All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
The blessing of God is soul-union with God. Stop there and ponder that for a few weeks. In our poverty, our persecutions, our failures, our deteriorating health and frenetic lifestyles, we are blessed more than we can grasp, and more than we have embraced. Unimaginable blessing flows from our union with Him.
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him — these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. I Corinthians 2:9-10
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3
The Spirit of God, who searches the deepest depths of God, longs to reveal the secrets of the deep. We can know these great and mysterious secrets. He wants us to know. He is always trying to tell us and waits for us to listen. There is a language of Deity, a transcendent exchange, and if I am still long enough to listen in the quiet, I will catch the inaudible song of the Trinity. All this is taking place in me, and I am called into the conversation. What glorious unspeakable blessings in Christ!
[1] Smith, H. W. (2009). The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. Christian Classics Ethereal Library.