Welcome to Hank’s Place
As I have said before, Jesus IS the Vine, we ARE the branches. Happened when we said YES to Jesus. He abides in us – eternally. We abide in Him – eternally. This astonishing fact is hard to grasp, for our minds are so conditioned by the world to think like the world, not heaven.
So instead of abiding from the get-go, we struggle to be accepted – but we already ARE accepted in the beloved, for as believers we ALREADY ARE in UNION with Him! We struggle for approval, we wonder if we have done ‘enough’ for God. But friend, that’s like running backward from the finish line! Stop your struggle. You ARE IN CHRIST, and as righteous as God Himself – 2 Cor 5:21 – for you ARE in UNION with Him. You didn’t do this; He did, for by His GRACE we have been saved, and that through the gift of faith He has given us. Eph 2:8.
Finding this rest can take time, like the rest of your life! Paul tells the Colossians in Col 2:10 “…in Him you have been made complete.” But a few verses earlier in 1:28 he said he labors, hard, to present every man complete in Christ. Those Colossian believers were complete in Christ, but like most of us, they DID NOT KNOW IT, and were engaged in fruitless struggle for approval!
Or take those carnal Corinthians, struggling with envy and jealously, even gluttony and drunkenness at communion. Yet here is how Paul begins his letter to them, 1 Cor 1: parts of 4-9 MSG: “Every time I think of you—and I think of you often!—I thank God for your lives of free and open access to God, given by Jesus. There’s no end to what has happened in you—it’s beyond speech, beyond knowledge. [GNB expresses that as “For in UNION with Christ you have become rich in all things”] The evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives.
Just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all! And God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, will never give up on you. Never forget that!”
So, dear believer, understand: you ARE in union with the Living God. You may be living like those Corinthians, or Colossians. But wait! You are approved, you are in UNION with God. So grow up! Study Jesus – that’s YOUR character now! Don’t you realize it – you are in Him – He is in you – and in Him – you have COME ALIVE!
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