We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
Our True Eternal Home
In becoming our sin and bearing the death-consequences of sin, Christ has opened the way for us to participate in the fellowship of the triune God. Because of the cross, we are now free to abide in Christ and to have Christ abide in us (John 15:4-10). The word “abide”(menno) means “to take up residence.” It is the opposite of “occasionally visit.” So, Christ died so that we would make him our permanent home as he makes us his permanent home.
Now, Paul teaches that all who place their trust in Christ are placed “in Christ.” We have been rescued…from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col 1:13). In a very real, ontological sense, we change addresses when we place our trust in Christ. But this isn’t the “abiding” that Jesus is talking about. The very fact that Jesus calls on his disciples to “abide” in him and warns them that they will not bear fruit if they don’t do this means that this “abiding” is something that we chose to do—or not.
We live in Christ to the degree that we surrender our will to him, moment–by-moment. Christ is our home to the degree that we are aware, moment-by-moment, that we are surrounded by, indwelt by, his perfect love. So the goal of our life must be to align our hearts and minds, moment-by-moment with the “in-Christ” new address we receive when we surrender to Christ. And as we remain aware and surrendered to Christ, moment-by-moment, we bear the fruit of Christ. As we “abide” in him and he in us, his loving, self-sacrificial character, as well as his joy and peace, become ours.
Christ took upon himself all that belonged to us so that all that belongs to him would be given to us. To receive this, we need only stay put in our true eternal home, Christ Jesus.
Photo credit: Warlen G Vasco via Unsplash
Category: General
Tags: Discipleship, Identity in Christ, Jesus
Topics: Following Jesus
Related Reading
What Does It Mean to Be Married to Christ?
The New Testament calls Christ the “bridegroom” and the church his “bride.” To understand what this means can change your life. We need to read this through the lens of first century Jewish marriage. In what follows we’ll highlight six aspects of first century Jewish marriages to see how each sheds light on the New…
Podcast: Did Jesus Descend Into Hell?
Greg psychologizes Christ on the cross. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0343.mp3
Does God Have a Dark Side?
In the previous post, I argued that we ought to allow the incarnate and crucified Christ to redefine God for us rather than assume we know God ahead of time and then attempt to superimpose this understanding of God onto Christ. When we do this, I’ve argued, we arrive at the understanding that the essence…
Does Jesus’ Abandonment on the Cross Destroy the Trinity?
In my previous blog I argued that Jesus’ experience of God-forsakenness on the cross was genuine and that, as a matter of fact, there was a genuine abandonment of Jesus by the Father on the cross. In fact, I am convinced that a good deal of our theology hangs in the balance on our affirming…
Crucifying Transcendence
The classical view of God’s transcendence in theology is in large borrowed from a major strand within Hellenistic philosophy. In sharp contrast to ancient Israelites, whose conception of God was entirely based on their experience of God acting dynamically and in self-revelatory ways in history, the concept of God at work in ancient Greek philosophy…
Podcast: Can We Really Have a Personal Relationship with Jesus?
It’s all about parts and wholes in this rip-roaring journey through the historical development of certain pietistic trends as Greg introduces his listeners to Depeche Mode Theology. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0228.mp3