Where Am "I"

Where Am “I”?

Where am “I”? It is not a question of my physical location. Depending on when you read this, I will be in a different location. If you read this on Sunday after the morning services, I will be in Memphis, TN with Larry and the other students who are ready to graduate. [Note: This was written June 2009 - AC) If you read this on Wednesday, chances are I will be in or near the building getting ready for services. This is not javascript:void(0)a question of my physical location but rather a broader question we should all ask ourselves? There are multiple places that “I” can be spiritually.

Am “I” in the caught up in prIde? If the answer is yes, one must ask why. Nothing good can come when “I” am caught up in prIde. “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). When reading the book of Esther, one can see it is what led Haman to the gallows built for Mordecai. It is this frame of mind which Christ was preaching against when speaking of the motives behind prayer, giving, and fasting (Matthew 6:1-23). Christ stated that these men would get a reward of being seen of men but there was no reward other than that. God resists the proud (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). Hopefully none of us can say, “I am found in prIde.”

Am I stuck in the middle of sIn? Again, if the answer is yes, it is important that one get out of sin as soon as possible. Nothing good can come from being in sIn. Why? “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14-15). Those who are in sIn are not of God but of Satan (1 John 3:8). The punishment given to those who are in sIn is a terrible one (Revelation 21:8). Am I in sIn?

Or am I in ChrIst? There is no better place to be in all the world than the body of Christ. All spiritual blessings are found in Christ. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). ALL spiritual blessing are found within Christ. Only those who are in Christ can be saved in the end. “…even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body” (Ephesians 5:23). “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first…” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Obviously, you cannot be in Christ if you are in prIde or sIn. Want to get out of sin and pride and into Christ? One must be baptized into Christ. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3).

Are you in prIde? Are you in sIn? Get out. Both lead to destruction for all eternity. Are you in Christ? If not, make the decision to do so before it is eternally too late.