Life Together In Christ

StriperAddict

Senior Member
Life Together In Christ


(Video link at the end.)

Think of Jesus. Imagine Him. Imagine Perfect. Now imagine yourself actually in Him. What’s life like from there?

And think of this: Unless I see myself as God sees me, in Christ, actually in Him (it’s all over the New Testament), then whenever inexplicably difficult and odd things happen to me, I will wonder what has gone wrong and what I have to do to make things right.

For a lot of us, that’s how we think a lot of the time. “Why is this happening to me?” “Why do bad things happen to me?”

That thinking means endless days of pressure—or of trying to avoid it, which is essentially the same thing. Either way, I’ve got to educate myself, strategize and work to orchestrate my days so that weird and wrong stuff doesn’t happen.

And I will have been tricked into seeing myself as separate from God, with assessments and techniques for proper management always in demand. After all, I’ve got a lot to do. No wonder I’m nervous, no wonder I’m prone to anxiety. But I’ll give my self toward that—more than to anything—and I’ll think it’s the right way . . . the responsible way. The separate way.

But I am in Him. At all times. At every moment. He put me there (1 Corinthians 1:30). What happens to me or what goes on around me is for the two of us, not for one of us, but for both of us—together—united forever in everything. That’s the plan. Never separate! His life and His ability are always at the ready for me and through me, as the case may be. Obviously, it helps if I will believe we’re together—not just God over there and me doing my best to follow. I am in Him. He is in me. “Following” is not the issue; believing that He made this change happen is the issue.

Believing it’s true and enjoying it is how Christ is formed in me. That’s His agenda and now that’s my agenda. In other words, “Jesus, I am in you and you are in me. Make me aware of what you’d like to do in me and through me, your vessel. Let’s do this together. I would love that. Amen.”

This is the “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” life (Galatians 2:20), and that’s for me. And if you’re a Christian, it’s for you, too. How exciting is that life?

(To see the video, click http://ralphharris.org/life-together-in-christ/.)
Posted: 31 Aug 2018 12:53 PM PDT

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StriperAddict

Senior Member
Here's a short encouragement I just found, on the same subject ...

I praise God that my hope and eternal life are not based on my faithfulness, but His. My wayward flesh renounces Him ten thousand times a day as so many moments are lived for and from the world and worldliness.

But my union with Him is unwavering. As often as I let go of Him He never fails to have a firm hold upon me. My unbelief and fear, my selfishness and materialism, my heart for everything but Him never changes His heart for me.

My infantile messiness
does not for a moment
undermine that I am His child.

Father - I praise You for Your steadfastness in both Your heart for and hold of me. Thank You that what You have done - which I have received - is not undone by my inconsistency, but maintained and sealed in Your Spirit by Your eternality, never undermined by my temporal reality.

Thank You for your eternally gracious grip upon my life.

“...if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself”. - 2 Timothy 2:13
 
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