What Do You Have Apart from Jesus?

In this Spiritual Life UPGRADE, I want to share the blessing and power of not doing anything apart from Jesus.

February 1, 2022, when I couldn't sleep in the night, I started thinking about what life would be like apart from Jesus. In that long night, the Holy Spirit was my Comfort and Peace, but my mind turned to my Savior.

I thought about all He had done for me. I thought about Him praying in Heaven for me. The more I meditated, the more I realized how He touched every part of my life, and that I, in fact, had no life apart from Him.

Here is what I reminded myself about that night.

Nothing Apart from Jesus

1. Apart from Jesus, there's no PATH to eternal hope and heaven.

In other words, there's no salvation. Jesus said,

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

Apart from our Savior, we have no hope for eternity; but with Jesus, we have "a living hope" (1 Peter 1:3).

2. Apart from Jesus, there's no PURPOSE for spiritually-meaningful life and legacy.

We all have personal goals—some made with much prayer and in seeking God, and others planned without Him.

The best way for a Christ-follower to live is to prayerfully ask God for direction.

Why?

For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

God planned works for us to do. He had jobs, careers, and responsibilities in mind when He created us.

I've thought about this a lot. I believe:

• God gifted me and He empowers me.
• He knew I would be a wife, mother, and grandmother.
• He knew I would be a writer, speaker, and love to sing in the choir.
• He has provided all I've needed, in my weakness, to be strong in Him.
• He designed me to love truth and show mercy.
• He gave me the desire to live for His glory.

He did all of this for me and in and through me as I am "in Christ"—and I am so grateful!

Perhaps you might review your own life. Consider how God has prepared the way and used you in ways you never would have imagined.

Perhaps you are like me. Without the Lord, I have no spiritually-meaningful life. Without Him, my legacy would be shallow. But with Him . . .

3. Apart for Jesus, there's no POWER for godly choices and change.

We may be able to overcome some issues with sheer will power, but godly choices requires knowing God. When we have the "mind of Christ," we will think differently (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Also, because Jesus stands in victory, we do not have to sin! As a popular song says, "sin's curse has lost its grip on me." * I have both the desire and the enabling to overcome temptation in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57) and through the Word of God (1 Corinthians 10:13; Psalm 119:11).

I am being transformed through the "renewing" of my mind (Romans 12:2). God is changing me to become more like His Son (Romans 8:29).

Without Christ, we can do nothing, but with Him—when we abide in Him, when we live in His strength—what a difference!

4. Apart from Jesus, there's no PROVISION for spiritual growth and godliness.

God gives us great grace. It is the grace of God that He chooses to bless us instead of give us what our sin deserves.

Paul reminds us that nothing good dwells in our flesh (Romans 7:18). How can that which is not good do good? Even our so-called goodness is as "filthy rags" before God—tainted by sin or wrong motives.

Oh, how we need Jesus!

In Jesus, God made a way not only for eternal life, but blessings as well. In Christ, we are given many spiritual blessings and we are able to live "to the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:3-14).

God give us "grace gifts" (spiritual gifts) to help us "bear much fruit" (John 15:8) as we serve Him and pursue God-given goals.

• Father God calls us to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-17).
• He gave us the Holy One, Jesus, to enable our holiness (John 6:68-69).
• And Jesus prayed the Father would send the Holy Spirit to guide us into righteousness (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:16).

Clearly, it is God's will that we be holy; but we cannot be godly apart from our Savior.

5. Apart from Jesus, there's no PEACE in the world's confusion and chaos.

Just listening to newscasts for one day is enough to either make us angry or make us afraid. We rightly ask, "What in the world is going on?"

We may be tempted to panic. We crave peace in all the confusion and chaos. 

Yet, as Christ-followers, we know there's more going on than earthly headlines.

• We know Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is coming back to set things right.
• We know that—whatever happens to our earthly bodies—sin, circumstances, and the evil one cannot destroy us.
• We know that apart from Jesus we might panic, but in Him, we have peace that the world cannot understand.

Jesus desires to give us HIS peace, far beyond the peace promoted in this world (John 14:27). It's the kind of peace that enables us to not be troubled or afraid in the scary circumstances of life.

Apart from Jesus we may feel hopeless, purposeless, powerless, helpless, and restless. But all that changes when we are alive in Him.

"No guilt in life no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me.

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny." *

How grateful I am that I do not live apart from the One who loved me enough to die for me, the One who has provided all I will ever need.

Is there some area of life where you are apart from Jesus? Do you have a personal relationship with Him? What do you have that has not come from Him?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator the blog, Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for women's teacher and revivalist, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth at Revive Our Hearts, and is a regular columnist at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in sunny Southern California, and Dawn has traveled with Him in Pacesetter Global Outreach. They have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

* Lyrics from "In Christ Alone" by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty.

Graphic adapted, courtesy of Matteo Vistocco at Unsplash.