In Him We Live.......

A revelation of God's grace, for me.......that we are one with Christ, and that abiding in Him results in fruit in our lives.

Producing fruit does NOT cause abiding. No matter how vigorously religion tries to convince you that it is so.

Jesus depended on the Father as His source of life. He did not live independently of God.......He lived in unity of Spirit with God. In effect, Jesus said of His Father, "In Him I live, and move, and have my being."

Yet we've been conned by religion into believing that, unlike Jesus, we can live independently to the extent that WE decide the rules, WE strive to obey the rules we've invented, WE are our own source.

God didn't call us to imitate Jesus, or to ask stupid questions like "What would Jesus do?" before we decide on our actions. We are called to abide in Jesus.......and His life is the source of our own lives. We are one spirit with Him.

There's a rest, a ceasing from striving, as we simply believe what is already true about us......that we are loved and accepted by God, part of His family, free from condemnation, and free to be led by the Spirit of God. Not by rules in a book........ not by religion .......not by tradition ...... not by other people's opinions of right and wrong..... not by rules for what Christians "should" do.......

But simply living in union with Christ.

Maybe that's why religion hates the message of God's grace: because God Himself put an end to human striving that we might depend on Him alone. It makes religion rather useless, doesn't it?

-Mickey