Four words. That’s what I’m chewing on this morning. Yet four words within one grand context — Romans 8.

There’s no way you can read Romans 8 and not be stirred within your soul.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

(Roman 8:1 ESV)

No condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Fact. End of discussion.

Bask in the grace. Give glory to God.

But wait . . . there’s more. Far from just a transaction whereby the debt for my sin was paid for by Christ on the cross, more even than Christ’s righteousness being credited to my account, beyond the transaction there is a new orientation.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

(Romans 8:3-4 ESV)

Saved from sin, saved for righteousness. Saved from bondage, saved for freedom. Saved from death, saved for life. And so, we walk according to the Spirit. That’s our new orientation. Setting our minds on the things of the Spirit (8:5b), putting to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit (8:13), being led by the Spirit (8:14). All possible because the Spirit of God dwells in us (8:9, 11)!

Stop right now. Go stand in front of a mirror. Peer deeply at the face before you. There! Right there! You’re looking at where the Spirit of God resides right now. Really!

Come on! That’s gotta make your jaw drop at least a bit . . . maybe even put a bit of a smile on your face.

But here’s the kicker, the reminder that the Spirit in you means also Christ in you.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

(Romans 8:9-10 ESV)

There they are. The four words the Spirit has set the table with for me this morning. Christ is in you.

It’s hard to fully appreciate what the Spirit in us means when we know so little about the Spirit. But that He is the Spirit of Christ, and thus Christ is in us? Well, we know a lot about Jesus. And whatever we know about Him, it should inform our understanding of our supernatural union with Him.

You are in Christ and, as mind boggling as it is, Christ is in you. The meek and lowly Jesus living in us and through us. The King of kings and Lord of lords reigning within us. His presence. His power. The mind of Christ. The heart of Christ. All of it in us and with us . . . every moment, every hour, every day, every week.

Christ is in you. Just four simple words. But one jaw-dropping truth. Meditate on them, chew on them slowly and deliberately, and know afresh who you are, child of God (which by the way, the Spirit also reminds us of (8:16)).

Christ is in you. Something easier felt than tell’t. Because trying to get our arms around union with Christ is like trying to put an ocean in a cup. So, I’m not stressing about trying to contain it or explain it. Instead, this morning I’m enjoying drinking deeply from it.

Only by His grace. Only for His glory.