Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.
5 Things You Should Know about Union with Christ
The older I get, the more essential I view the doctrine of union with Christ. Here is a quick overview at Ligonier.
The Bible speaks of disciples as people who are “in Christ.” This is the language of union with Jesus. By nature, we are all “in Adam,” which means spiritual death. By grace, God puts undeserving sinners “in Christ,” which is life everlasting (1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:12–21). This is the reality that the Apostle Paul addresses in Ephesians 1, where the phrase “in Christ” appears repeatedly. To be without Christ is abject misery. To be in Christ is true salvation. To be like Christ is real holiness. To be with Christ is joy beyond compare. He is the root and source of every blessing. We need, therefore, to grasp certain sweet realities about the Christian’s union with Christ Jesus.
A Midlife Assessment
Faith Chang has written a thoughtful reflection on following Christ in middle age.
I’m in the thick of the woods now and though the path diverges every so often and the decisions I make at these crossroads still don’t come easy, I choose with a better sense of what the cost might be to walk the harder roads, how God has created me to walk, what load he has called me to bear, what pace is sustainable, and more confidence knowing his grace has proved sufficient thus far. I have a more realistic sense of my constraints, a greater contentment regarding roads not taken, a growing inkling of what a “convergence” (as one of my professors put it) of passions, gifting, and experience might look like for me vocationally. Still, I have some questions, ones that are less of the “Which mountain should I climb?” nature and more of the “We’ve been going the right way, right?” variety.
Quick
Our poem of the week: Quick, by Erica Reid. It’s another poem about autumn; I can’t help myself.
Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here.