Every Christian is in union with Christ, even though every Christian doesn’t realize it. That is so sad because being in Christ (being in union with Him) is what it means to be a Christian. Because we are in union with Christ, His relationship with the Father is our relationship with the Father. If we are in union with Christ, then His commitment to the will of God is our commitment to the will of God. His strength is our strength. His peace is our peace. His capacity to love is our capacity to love, etc., etc. How do we experience personally and practically all those realities? We simply believe. It is kind of maddening to think that it is that simple, but Jesus came that we (all of us) might have life and have it more abundantly. It is God’s will for each of us to experience the wonders of the eternal life that Jesus lives. Therefore, God made it as simple as possible, so that even a little child can enter in. As a matter of fact, according to Jesus in Matthew 18, we have to become like little children who, in humility, believe what they are told is true. Never forget that faith doesn’t wait for manifestation; manifestation waits for faith. We made the Christian life so complicated when the truth is God has taken care of everything for us by placing us in Christ. That was God’s part in our redemption, and our part is simply to believe in His part. Colossians 2:6 says, “Therefore just as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”
How did you become a Christian? Did you have to do anything to add to the finished work of Christ on the Cross? Of course not!. All you had to do was receive; and how do we receive? By faith alone! When someone offers you a gift, then you don’t add anything to all that they have already done to provide the gift for you. All you do is receive it. That’s how we became Christians, and according to Colossians 2:6, that’s how we live the Christian life one step at a time. By faith receiving into our need in any particular moment, all that He is. Actually, The word “receive” is probably better translated “to take,” and faith is just step-by-step “taking,” and in gratitude, saying “thank you,” in joyful confidence that it is yours. This is the life of the Christian, taking and saying thank you in trusting expectation of all that He is for all that you need one step at a time in your walk with Jesus.