Unveiling the Power of Union: Living in Christ and His Life in You
My old identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, dispensing his life into mine! —Galatians 2:20
Maybe you’ve heard it preached, “Christ died for you. He died for your sins.” But that’s not quite it. It leaves us separate. Disconnected. Jesus didn’t die for you, He died as you. You died with Him.
The Gospel isn’t for spectators. You have to be immersed to see it. You have to be born again to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. There are no bystanders. Even the Great Cloud of Witnesses, those who have passed into glory, are in the story, fully alive, united in faith.
Our true life is found “in Christ.” His experience is ours as we are found in Him. His death is ours. His resurrection is ours. His ascension is ours.
And it’s more than that! As it turns out, the Gospel is only good news! His joy is ours. His peace is ours. His inheritance is ours. Have you heard, “we live in union as One!”
Everything will try and cheat you out of this simple glory. And the greatest culprit is the church caught in and under the system of religion. The message of the Kingdom, the Gospel itself, is a call to encounter and interact with a Person. We have something far greater than principles to proclaim.
I have lost all hope in principles. Thank God! I have lost all confidence in my own ability to save myself. Praise the Lord! And as it turns out, the loss I’ve incurred is not a loss at all. All of that self-absorbtion, all of that propping up of the flesh, is complete and utter garbage. It was never good for anything.
If the call is for me to spend more time looking at me, the call is wrong. It’s a trap. Religion puts the onus on me. Did I confess it enough? Did I say the prayer right? Did I fast long enough? Did I…? Did I…?
The focus hasn’t changed at all. In my sin, I began my journey consumed with self, and my religion has given me full permission to remain consumed with myself. Religion only strengthens my resolve toward narcissism. And the second fall, this time in the name of our religious devotion, into more self-absorption, may be greater and darker than the first.
My old identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives.
If we are in Christ, then I am dead to all of that. Jesus didn’t just die for me. He died with me. He died as me.
And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one!
And He lives with me. He lives as me. I live together in union with Him, as One. Our lives are blended. Me in Him. Him in Me.
This new life is the whole point. This invitation to relate to the One who is willing to live His life in us, is the entire purpose of God. This is the mystery that was hidden until the coming of Christ. If I fall back to preaching principles instead of the Person, I’m desperately close to tumbling headlong into that old trap of religion all over again.
My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, dispensing his life into mine!
My new life isn’t even dependent on my own faith. If you’ve tried to walk out your calling, then you’re already well-acquainted with your weakness. That acquaintance needs to do its full work in us. It’s designed to bring us to the end of ourselves.
Religion will jump in here and say, “Just try a little harder. Believe a little more. You can do it! And when you do it, God will bless you.”
But you can’t do it.
You cannot do it.
And God will bless you. In truth, He already has. Jesus has done it. It, whatever it is, has already been completed. Christ has done it all.
My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God. My new life is empowered by His faith! I can now spend my time looking at Him. Being with Him. Loving Him.
Be wary of any church or messenger that preaches another “Gospel,” the kind where the answer involves something you can accomplish for yourself. Jesus, relating to Jesus, is the answer.
If you’ve never come into the experience of this truth, you have been missing out. It’s time to immerse yourself into the reality of this co-crucifixion. See yourself in Christ, hanging on that tree. Arms outstretched. Feet bound. Pierced. He is there. You are there too. In Him.
All that you are is draining out, nothing more than a vapor. It’s not what you are now, it’s only what you were. It’s all draining out now. All that you hoped. All that you once thought. All of the things that once seemed so important. It’s all going. It’s all gone.
This is death. This is final.
And yet.
And yet, He remains.
And all your life, the life that is hidden in Him, that remains also. The real life remains. This is the Good News!
