Christians Live 'Far Below Their Privilege,' Jefferson Bethke Says
Christians live "far below their privilege" and must use their full potential to become spiritually rich, inspirational Christian speaker Jefferson Bethke said in a new video.
Speaking in this week's "Monday Message" posted to YouTube, Bethke begins by saying that he has important news he believes all Christians need to hear, quoting the Puritans who once said: "Christians live far below their privilege."
Bethke explains that while Christians have been given all of the gifts of Christ through their faith, they often fail to completely live in their spiritual richness.
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"So many Christians are basically spiritually rich, and have all these checks deposited into their account, but we never go and 'cash in' on the amazing things God has given us," the author of Jesus > Religion says.
Bethke points to the New Testament, which repeatedly references Christians as being 'in Jesus," meaning "What's true of Jesus when you trust in Him becomes true of you."
"When you trust by faith in Jesus, everything that Jesus gets, everything that Jesus has access to, and everything that's true of Him becomes true of you," Bethke explains, calling this gift "mind-blowing" because it means that all Christians are able to celebrate and live in Jesus' holy attributes, including his cleanliness, righteousness, and purity.
Bethke uses the analogy of sharing a joint bank account after marriage, suggesting that just as a couple's money is pooled together to become collectively "theirs," so Christians share all of the spiritual richness of God because they live "in Him."
"When we trust in faith with [Jesus], we get married to him, per se, and […] those [good] things become true of us," the Christian speaker adds.
Bethke then poses a challenge to all Christians, suggesting that the next time they allow a negative or unholy thought to enter their mind, they should remember what is true of them is also true of Jesus.
"When thoughts take hold of our mind that are not positive or not good or not holy, a lot of times when we're dealing with maybe shame or guilt […] a lot of times it can be traced back to the fact that we're not trusting in the fact [...] that what's true of Jesus is true of us," Bethke explains.
"God is not stingy, he's lavishing and overflowing His grace and beauty towards you, and are you trusting in that?" Bethke asks.
The inspirational speaker concludes his "Morning Message" with another analogy, explaining that while a human may desire the ability to fly, they will ultimately not be able to accomplish this feat no matter what they do.
However, when a person flies in a plane, they are in flight.
"In and of ourselves we are not flying, but we are in something that is, and that makes us flying. What's true of the plane becomes true of us," Bethke says.
"None of us can fly, none of us are righteous, or pure, or blameless, but in Jesus we are, and that's what God sees, [He] sees us and he's delighted in us in the same way at Jesus' Baptism, where God looks down [...] and says 'you are my son and I am well pleased.'"
"Do you let God's beautiful declaration over you sink in?" Bethke concludes.
