What a grand mystery! Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27) dwells in your spirit and fills your body with His life, ever transforming it into the body of His glory! This happens when Christ is sanctified as Lord in your hearts and makes you as His home (Ephesians 3:16-17). Christ never waits for us to be perfect before He takes up His residence with us. So how do we make our hearts as a beautiful and delightful place of dwelling for Christ? How should we treat Him?

GREET HIM IN LOVE AND REVERENCE

Acknowledge His kingship and welcome Christ into every aspect of your lives, holding nothing back! Love Him enough to obey Him with your whole heart. If you cannot be close with the Person who resides within, how can you be close with anyone else?

GIVE HIM THE FREEDOM OF ACTION

Allow Christ, who is in you, to freely do what He desires to do (I Peter 3:15). He would like to move from room to room, remodeling them until every area of your life is suitable for His dwelling. Keep yourself passive, and Christ in you active! Do you have any junk closets or secret hideouts where He is forbidden to enter?

OFFER HIM THE BEST

Don’t we offer our guests the best of all that we have? In fact, we also try to know their likes and dislikes. It must be the same with Christ, who dwells in you, who, after all, is not only great and holy but who is also worthy of our best (Mark 14:3). Have you given Him the best of everything? Do you take time to study His likes and dislikes?

MAKE HIM A PRIORITY

Your heart should be the place of deepest bond with Christ. He longs for and wants your friendship and fellowship (Malachi 3:16), so take time to taste the sweetness of His nearness as a true friend – and more! Just imagine living in a house and not being addressed! Aren’t you excited to find out what He has to say to you?

DO NOT GRIEVE HIM

When you grieve Him with your comforts, plans, ambitions, cravings, and sin, He is still there, but instead of filling your house, He withdraws into the attic or is driven into the cellar. What a dangerous state that can be! Hence, you must mortify your sinful actions to be a holy dwelling place for Him. Can you honestly drag everything in your heart out in the glaring Holy light of Christ?

Indeed, to the man who makes his Heart a delightful home of Christ, He opens His very heaven and brings His vast riches within human reach. So, let us continually strive to possess, occupy, and saturate Him in every part of our inward being. And soon, when He returns, He will even transform our outer body so that God’s glory can shine through us in its full splendor. The Christ who lives in us is our hope of such glory.