Quiet Time Notes

Notes from my daily Quiet Times with God

Ministry - Remaining In Christ

January 19th, 2012
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John 15

Remaining in Christ seems like an easy thing to do yet it challenges us as disciples. We have spent years finding our identity in the world, in success, in how others feel about us. We strive for a "good self-esteem." Instead, Jesus calls for us to have a "proper self-esteem" and a proper view of ourselves. This is found by remaining in Christ. We are called to be as intimately connected with Christ as a vine is with a branch. That connection brings fruit, change and answered prayer. We are to find our identity in Christ, not in ourselves. The call of discipleship is to abandon self, not to make ourselves better. Christ is better; we are lost and dead outside of Him. God wants us to get our spiritual identity from his Son. As disciples we are called to a Person, not to a program. To relationship, not to religiosity. We are called to Christ, not to Christianity. An interesting exercise to do would be to count how many times the expressions "In Christ" or "in Him" are used in the book of Ephesians, a great book on being "in Christ."

Questions/Followup

• Do not focus on who you are not. Focus on who Christ is.
• What must you abandon in your life so that Christ can shine through you more?
• Express your gratitude to God for his Son who has changed your life.

Key Phrase: We are called to Christ, not to Christianity