12-30-14 1 John 5:20

We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)

Thoughts: Some ask, "Is it even possible with our limited minds and finite perspective, to know Almighty God?  The good news that we celebrate at Christmas is that God wants us to know Him and has come down in accommodation to us in order for us to be able to know Him.  This is more than knowing ABOUT God- but having a loving relationship with Him.  It is out of God's grace and love that He comes in order that we may know Him.  God sympathizes with and has mercy on our ignorance of Him.  Ignorance of God is not bliss.  Not knowing the One who made you and not caring whether you know Him or not means not only do you miss out on know His love, hope, meaning and direction in life;  It also means we miss out on God's design beyond this life.  For to turn away from His knowledge is to turn toward darkness and to love being lost rather than being found.
      I may not know my wife of 35 years fully and completely.  But what I know about her I know truly.  I trust that knowledge and rest in my love for her and her love for me.  We may not know all about God, but we know enough truth of God to make a difference.  Jesus came in order that we could know God better.  Isaiah 11 speaks of Christ's coming as a spreading of the knowledge of God- as the water covers the sea.  Today the knowledge of God through Christ has spread to every continent and nation.
     This verse also emphasizes two other important things.  God is true.  When Christ came, He brought not false hope but truth and real hope.  To not believe the truth of God by turning to our own pride is a sad state.  It is actually wanting eternal death over eternal life because we think we may know better.  What do we have to lose if we believe and follow Christ and it turns out not to be true?  We would have chosen to try to love neighbor better to serve others rather than ourselves.  But if Christ's hope is true and we have refused that hope to go our own way- we have lost God and we have lost eternal life both in this life and in eternity.
     Christ also calls us to be one with Him.  One with Him in family- adopting us as His children.  He calls us to be one in mind with Him.  He calls us to be one in love with Him.  We are in Him as we are in the air and the air is in us.  God comes that we may be one with Immanuel (a title for Christ which means God is with us).
     Christ comes to bring us understanding about the truth, about God, and about eternal life. He calls us to one with Him too. We can be slaves to ignorance or be set free by the truth of hope and eternal life. 

Prayer: Lord, thank you for coming that i may know you and be one with you.  

4/26/12- Union in Christ

WSC Q. 34- What is adoption?
Adoption is a free act of God's grace, in which we are received into the family, and have a right to all the privileges of the children of God.  

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

Thoughts: What do the words "in Christ Jesus" mean?  We are united in Christ.  We are baptized in Christ, one in Christ, in faith in Christ.  We are justified in Christ (Gal. 2:17).  We are sanctified in Christ (1 Cor. 1:2; 6:11).  We are saints in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:1; Phil. 1:1).  There is no condemnation for those in Christ (Rom. 8:1).  Christ also is IN us (Rom. 8:9,10) by the Spirit who adopts us as His children.  So we are enveloped within and without by Christ.  We are united in Him by our union in Him.  We are connected, tied, bound, covenant-promised to be His and He ours.  We shall be His people and He shall be our God.  This is adoption- we are united to Him.
    The problem is we do not live like this.  We live like we are distanced from Him, and He does not care for us.  We live like He is so transcendent, but He is immanent to those who are bound to Him in faith.  He is a part of us, and we are a part of Him.  There is a oneness in Christ- to which words like adoption and union can only hint.  We should try to live in the oneness of Christ. 

Prayer: God be in my head and in my understanding:

God be in my eyes and in my looking:

God be in my mouth and in my speaking:

God be in my heart and in my thinking:

God be at mine end and at my departing.