BELIEVERS: A Finished Work Learning to Live in a Finished Reality

**LIVING IN THE SPIRIT**

The believer, a new creation, is God's finished work in Christ, not a work in progress. When a person is born again, God does not begin a process of recreating him little by little. He recreates him instantly. The believer receives a new nature, a new identity, and the very life of God. In Christ, you are complete (Colossians 2:10).

What continues to grow is not your recreated spirit, but your knowledge and experience of who you already are in Christ. Spiritual maturity is not God trying to improve your new creation; it is you discovering and living out what God has already accomplished.

Until then, we often make ourselves appear to be works in progress because we are ignorant of our true identity. Ignorance keeps us living below our inheritance.

** Called to Partake of His Glory**

God has not only saved us from sin—He has called us to partake of His glory. Through Christ, we have become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). We have been called to share in His life, His character, and the glory of His Son. Yet many believers live far below this glorious calling because they have not come to the full knowledge of who they are in Christ.

How long will you continue reading the manual without truly understanding it? How long will you turn the glory God has given you in Christ into shame by living beneath your calling? How long will you pursue empty things that have no eternal value?

**The Spirit Who Reveals**

The Scriptures are the manual for the new creation, but they cannot be understood by human intellect alone. The Holy Spirit, who inspired the Scriptures, is the One who reveals their true meaning. He does more than give information—He brings revelation. He does more than teach truth—He leads you into the experience of that truth.

The Christian life was never meant to be lived by knowledge alone. It is a life of fellowship with the Holy Spirit. As He opens the Scriptures to you, He also forms Christ within your daily experience until the Word becomes your reality.

** A Substitute That Falls Short**

Sadly, many believers substitute a relationship with their pastor for a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Pastors are gifts from God to equip the saints, but they were never meant to replace the Holy Spirit. No pastor can personally walk with God on your behalf.

God is not primarily interested in the name of your church, the reputation of your denomination, or the number of conferences, crusades, and church programs you attend. While these can be beneficial, they are not the measure of spiritual life.

** The Father's Highest Concern**

The Father's greatest concern is this: Do you truly know Him? Do you know the Father? Do you know the Son? Do you know the Holy Spirit—not merely as doctrines to believe, but as living Persons with whom you walk in daily fellowship?

The Lord Himself declared, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me..." (Jeremiah 9:23–24, KJV).

This is God's highest priority—not that we become famous Christians, but that we truly know Him. Eternal life itself is defined by this relationship: to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

** From Ignorance to Manifestation**

Christianity is not merely belonging to a church; it is living in an intimate relationship with the Triune God. It is hearing His voice, walking in His Word, depending on His Spirit, and allowing His life to be expressed through you every day.

The believer's journey is not from incompleteness to completeness. It is from ignorance to revelation, from revelation to experience, and from experience to manifestation. The more you know Christ, the more the finished work of God becomes visible in your life.

Stop living as though you are trying to become what God has already made you. Through the Holy Spirit, discover who you are in Christ, believe it, walk in it, and let the world see the life and glory of Christ revealed through you.

**Hassan Thomas Nenger** *Author, My Divine Identity as the Righteousness of God*