Brothers & sisters in Christ:
I hope this quotation of the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ refreshes your heart as it has mine. Being Valentine's Day it is a joy to think of we, His bride, as His valentine. He loves us so much that He "sold" all that He had and became poor that we might be made rich.
Ken
"There's no more often repeated expression in the New Testament than the expression "in Christ"..."in Christ Jesus". That was God's burden since the Garden of Eden. That was always His plan. Union with Him. Fellowship with Him. In Christ Jesus. What does it mean to be in Christ? What does it mean to have Christ in you? You begin to read your Bible, especially as you get into the epistles where the truth is fully developed and explained, and union with Christ is all over the place. You have the Vine and the branches, which is a union of life. You have the Head and the body, which is a union of cooperation. You have the superstructure and the Foundation, which is a union of strength. You have the Husband and wife, which is a union of love. You have the Master and slave, which is the union of submission. Even the Trinity of John 17 becomes an illustration of our union with Christ. It's a union of mystery. Every place you turn: "in Christ", "in Christ", "in Christ". 1 Corinthians 1:30: "Of him are ye in Christ Jesus." By Him you're in Christ. It's the fundamental idea underlying every other doctrine in the whole Bible. Every preacher and every teacher and every commentary who has every attempted to sound the depths of the truth of union with Jesus Christ has felt the inadequacy of words and his mind and his tongue and his clay lips. There's no way to sound the thrill of what it means to be in Christ Jesus. It's too full to grasp, and yet it's simple enough that a little child might understand it and lay hold of it.
Believers are in Christ, partakers of all that He does, all that He is, all that He has. We died with Him. We rose with Him. We live with Him. We're seated with Him. We're coming with Him. We're righteous in His righteousness. We are loved with the same love that rests upon Him. We inherit in His inheritance. We are overcomers through the Overcomer. We're sons in His Sonship. We'll be gloriifed together one day.
Christ is before our eyes. He's above us. He's around us. He wraps us all up in every direction. He's the ground on which we stand. He's the air that we breathe. He's the sphere in which we live and move and have our being. In Christ Jesus.
The churches are said to be in Christ Jesus. People are said to be in Christ Jesus. The Bible says we're found in Christ, preserved in Christ, saved in Christ, sanctified in Christ, rooted in Christ, built up in Christ, made perfect in Christ Jesus. Our ways are said to be ways in Christ Jesus. We're to have a good conversation in Christ Jesus. Our life is in Christ Jesus. The Bible says our faith, our hope, our love, and our joy is to be in Christ Jesus. We're to think in Christ, speak in Christ, walk in Christ, labor in Christ, suffer in Christ, rejoice in Christ, conquer in Christ.
Everything is in the Lord! We're told to receive one another IN the Lord. We're told to marry only IN the LOrd. We're told to forgive one another IN the Lord. Children are told to obey their parents IN the Lord. We're told to do all things IN the Lord. We hold the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. We live in the will of God in Christ Jesus. Some day we'll lay our burdens down, and when we do, it says we die IN the Lord. We sleep IN Christ Jesus. We're dead IN Christ. And when He appears we'll appear IN Christ and WITH Him we'll come again. This isn't a doctrine; it's a life. In Christ Jesus." - Ed Miller
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Ken Marino
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