Christ In Me

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)

“O my God, Jesus, I am in every way unworthy of You. Yet, like Joseph of Arimathea, I want to offer a space to you. He offered his own tomb; I offer my heart. Enter the darkness of my heart, as your body, entered the darkness of Joseph’s tomb. And make me worthy to receive you, driving out all sin that I may be filled with your spiritual light.”
-Bonaventure, the successor to Francis of Assisi.

Christ in me…in me…just as He was laid in His tomb. It was an ordinary tomb, no different than any other. There was nothing much to it, until He moved in. When we see pictures of the tomb, do we stop and admire the dusky gray color? Is it the rock formation or the size of the mountain it is carved into that makes us stare at it in wonder? No, it is the light…the marvelous light beaming out of it. It is Jesus’ glory we see. That is what draws our attention to the rock and what holds it there.

I am much like that tomb. He resides in me at this very moment the same as He did in it. At this moment when my heart is filled with praise and awe at Who He is. He is in me...dwelling in me. When I am praising Him, when I am praying to Him, when I feel so in love with Him, I could almost burst…I can feel Him in me.

When I am having a bad day, when I can’t get past myself and my plans, when I am frazzled trying to make dinner with a fussy baby on my hip and a preschooler pulling on each leg…when I yell at them yet again…He is still in me. He sees every part of me from His throne in my heart. He sees the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. Am I worthy?

I am worlds away from being a worthy dwelling place for the Lord of heaven and earth. Again, I am not that much different than that old tomb. Wouldn’t it have seemed more appropriate for the King of kings to be laid in a jewel clad coffin, or at least something gold plated. But instead He was laid inside a hole carved into the side of a mountain. Shouldn’t He, raised in all His glory, choose now to reside in a
flawless heart…yet, He lives in mine. From inside my heart, I hear Him calling to me. He longs for His light to freely shine out of me as it did the tomb. Oh, I long for the same.


Lord, make me just as aware of your presence in me when I am praising you as when I am complaining. Here is my heart. I offer it to you as Your home…every moment of everyday. Amen.