“I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Phil.3:10)

Do you remember settling into your beanbag chair? These days it might be easier to get down, rather than back up but do you remember flopping yourself down and the beanbag seemed to almost wrap itself around your body. It was as if you were being pulled close, gently snuggled in its warmth. For some of us, it was as if we could let go and just rest, finding that “Ah” moment, being one with the chair, if only for a brief time.

Jesus words, in John 15:4 are these: “Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch is unable to bear fruit of itself if it does not remain, neither can you if you do not remain in Me.” A branch does not struggle to hang on but surrenders itself to the strength of the tree. It becomes one with the tree, drawing life from the trunk, finding nourishment within and bringing forth fruit from it. Jesus, in His poignant way, so clearly stated, “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him/her, this one bears much fruit, because apart from Me you can do nothing” (vs.5)

In this passage the word, “remain”, carries more the idea of “rest”, of learning to rest in Him, of being one with Him and drawing our life from Him, allowing Him to live His life through us.

The apostle Paul understood the importance of such. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is not I who lives but Christ who lives in me and the life that I now live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:19-20). Elsewhere he says, “God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col.1:27). What is this mystery? Christ living in us, the hope of glory. There is a divine union, a oneness in which the very presence of Jesus dwells with a believer. “When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in the Father, that you are in Me, and I am in you” (Jn.14:20). Christ’s very presence, dwelling within and living His resurrected life through us.

Someone was once asked, “Is there a secret to a victorious Christian life?” His answer was simply this, “Christ”. There was no other answer needed. “Christ in us, the hope of glory”. By faith we learn to rest in Him; to know the intimacy of His presence; to draw our life from Him as we learn to hear His voice and fulfill His purposes.

How do you fully explain this experience to someone who has never sat in a beanbag chair and been enveloped by it? How do you explain to someone who has never fully experienced the nearness of His presence, the fulness of His love, the unfathomable depth of His mercy, His unfailing kindness. All you can really say is, “He is the air I breathe”; He is the life I live; He has become to me sweeter than honey, richer and more satisfying than anything I have ever known. 

To know Christ is sufficient. All else is mere vanity.

Blessings!