WE ARE "MEMBERS" OF "HIS BODY"

We are "Members" of the "Body of Christ."  As I began to ponder on that this morning I began to see "IT."   This body that we normally see as our own...my body, your body, your friends body, your parents body, your sibblings body, etc., is not really "our" body.  When we were born physically, we were born under the dominion of sin.  Satan ruled our members then, but now that we are believers, followers of Christ, Jesus rules our members because we are "Not" our own.  We have been bought with a price.  The purchaser gets to do what HE WILLS with His purchase.  He is in control.  We are now members of His Body. 

The necessity of seeing us separate from Jesus will always be a hinderance.   Because in seeing a separation, we will never surrender ourselves totally to Him.  We are "HIS" members......members of "HIS" Body.  He lives His live "AS US," working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.  It is no longer "I" but "HE."  He truly is "I AM" in our human form, living His life all over this world through us.  Is it any wonder we can do the greater works?  Jesus is no longer limited to one geographical location at a time.  He is all over this world living and moving and acting in our human bodies. 
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, "YET NOT I," but Christ lives in me.....(Galatians 2:20)
The revelation is that He lives in me AS ME.  This body is just one member of His Body....maybe an arm, a leg, a finger, etc., but it is HIS BODY.   Our whole mindset has to change.  He is not just living in us....He IS us in human form.  That is the great mystery of the Gospel that Paul speaks about....Christ in us, the hope of Glory.

So often man is referred to as a "vessel."  A vessel only contains the substance that is to be poured out.  The vessel is not that substance.  Jesus is that substance.  It is "His" life being poured out through each of us to this world around us. 
Also, we are referred to as branches.....Branches of the vine.  There can be no separation from the vine, or the branch is useless.  It is the vine that gives life.  It flows through and lives through each branch.  That is what Jesus is doing in the branches of our body....flowing and living as us in this world.  In Him we "live and move and have our being."  We are nothing apart from Him.  Without Him, we can do nothing.
Christ is our very life.
"For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.   When Christ WHO "IS" OUR LIFE appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." (Colossians 3:3-4)

The reality of this truth changes everything.  It will stop us from striving and trying to do things in our own strength.  It will bring us to a place of rest.  He is our rest.  Our very substance "IS" His life in us AS US. 
"As He is, so ARE we in this world." (1 John 4:17)