No one can live the Christian life except Jesus Christ Himself. I’ll never forget the look on the face of an older missionary in Colombia when this truth dawned on him. I’d been asked to speak to a group of missionaries at a conference about Christ being our source of power to serve. Afterward, this old gentleman invited me to go for a walk. With tears streaming down his face, he told me, “Luis, I have been here on the mission field for more than 30 years. But my wife and I have never had real joy. Until today, I don’t think I have ever really known what it means to allow the risen Jesus to do the living in me.”

My heart went out to this brother, a genuine servant of the Lord but one who had so little joy in his life. This was the turning point for him. As followers of Christ, we all need to make this decision. Too many Christians believe that if they pray enough, read enough, and work hard enough, they’ll be victorious. The truth is, we cannot work or earn our victories through self-effort – we need to turn our lives fully over to the Lord. Then we will be “new creations; the old has gone, the new has come.” This will change the way we think, the way we feel about people, and the way we live and share the Good News.

We can only reach our world for Christ if we let Christ live through us. We will impact the world with the sheer joy and spiritual power we have through Christ.  

This is Luis Palau.