The Good Of The Father (The Union Life)

 In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you

Johns Account 14: 20, Concordant New Testament 

For many years in the church I was bombarded with the teaching of how I could "Be like" Jesus.  Of course, this took effort on my part.  If I was good enough.  If I believed and IF I followed the rules of the church theology.  Then, I could "Be like" Jesus.  And who wouldn't want to be like Jesus?  Jesus is recognized by both believers and non believers alike as one of the most merciful and kind men ever to walk the earth.  To be like Jesus is an honorable accomplishment.  But what there's more?  What if I am now living not like Jesus, but AS Jesus?  Now, this belief has been passed over and ignored by too many in the mainstream church.  But the truth is there in the scriptures.  The truth that to those to whom it has been revealed that they now live as Jesus.  This line of thinking also might get you chastised in the halls of the traditional church.  For it goes against the image of Jesus which the church has been upholding for thousands of years.  So what is it like to live as Jesus?  I have thought a lot about this question during the past few weeks.  Jesus has proclaimed that we shall see and know the union life which we share with He and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}.  Jesus has declared that He and the Father are one in the same {Johns Account 10:30}.  It was for this that the Pharisees of His day sought to stone Him.  But He wasn't lying.  For as we live in union with Jesus, we also live in union with the Father through Him.  Our lives are divinely connected to God and His Son.  Again, what exactly does that mean?  Well, I can remain confident that there is nothing which I will ever face which Jesus has not already experienced Himself {To the Hebrews 2:14}.  Have you ever read of how Jesus was embarrassed or intimidated?  Well, I can rest assured that if I've experienced these things, then Jesus has experienced them through my union life with Him.  This is life in Christ. 

For let this disposition be in you, which is in Christ Jesus also, Who, being inherently in the form of God, deems it not pillaging to be equal with God, nevertheless empties Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming to be in the likeness of humanity

Paul to the Philippians 2: 5-7, Concordant New Testament 

After a recent prolonged struggle with a virus I began to look upon my experience through the lens of my union life in Jesus.  Yes, I was sick and not feeling my best, but I also trusted that it was Christ Who was sharing in my afflictions as I endured them.  I cannot speak to living a union life in Jesus and the Father without knowing this truth.  Whatever it is that I endure, Jesus is there with me.  This is the union life.  This is exactly why Paul spoke to living  a life that is pleasing to the Lord {Paul to the Thessalonians 4:1}.  Of course, we all know that this isn't always the case, right?  We all have those times where we slip up and do the wrong thing.  Think of these times in this way, how is it that you suppose Jesus feels when we engage in these behaviors?  Is He angry with our backsliding?  Or, does it grieve Him that you, knowing the truth in you, would choose to act this way?  I prefer to think of it in the latter.  That Jesus is so fully connected with who we are that He grieves in those times of our struggles.  He grieves when we grieve.  He laughs when we laugh.  Whatever it is we are doing in that moment, you can be assured that through our union in Him, that Jesus is experiencing the same thing.  We have never been like Jesus, we ARE Jesus.  

~Scott~