The secret to an overcoming life lies in understanding how to stay "plugged into Christ" moment-by-moment, as opposed to operating as if we had a rechargeable battery. Jesus called this "abiding" in Him (John 15:4). We must trash the unbiblical belief that an independent, self-reliant life is worthy of our pursuit-even noble and virtuous-and learn how to live in total dependence upon Christ within us to express His life through us. Continuous dependence upon Christ both now and forever is the message of the gospel. But somehow the Deceiver has managed to sweep this truth through the cracks. He's convinced us that we're to "live our lives for Jesus" (as if He were so impotent that He needed our help), instead of allowing Jesus Christ to express His own life through His own body-the individual members of His corporate church.

What if each part of your body acted independently of the head? You get a small sample of the adverse effect that such independence can have when your head tells your body to get out of bed to go to the bathroom at 3:00 A.M., only to discover that one foot has chosen to stay asleep. It's like it's saying, "Y'all go on. I feel like staying here." Each individual Christian as a part in the body of Christ is to "life out" his unique identity by being totally dependent upon the Head, Jesus Christ, as his life. Independent living is not Chris tianity; it is a man-made caricature of Christianity. The Christian life is accomplished just like it was acquired: by faith; we are to simply believe that Christ is our life because God says so (John 14:6; 15:5; Romans 15:18; Colossians 3:3-4), and then act like it's true. As we will see, there is a huge difference between trying to live our lives for Christ versus Christ living His life through us-the difference between failure and overcoming.