One of the great Christian mysteries and blessings is that Christ lives in us. What does it really mean?

When we have -by grace- come to believe in Jesus,
the Holy Spirit takes residence in us.
Then we are not alone anymore.
It’s God with us.

Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2:20, MSG)

When we abide in Christ,
God lives and moves in us and through us.
Then it’s not us anymore who do good works.
It’s Christ in us.

Eugene H. Peterson talks about ‘prepositional participation’, it’s how our lives are lived when Christ is in us. We get included by means of a few prepositions: With, in, for. As Peterson says “They are powerful, connecting, relation-forming words, but none of them makes us either the subject or the predicate. We are the tag-end of a prepositional phrase.”

We are not subjects or predicates but we are invited into prepositional participation. How wonderful it is to be a tag-end in God’s work! It’s not us doing great works. But God does it by our hands, our shoulders, our feet, our mouth!

Hence each of us has an important part of God’s mission. But it still is God who is working in us, through us, for us. That’s why God is who gets the glory! But we get God’s grace that frees us to rest while he works through us. The whole world is not on our shoulders but in God’s strong hands.

It is indeed a blessing to be his precious tag-end. Thanks be to God!

 

Gracious God,
Thank you that it is not about us!
Thank you that we can be your precious tag-ends!
Thank you that the whole world is in your hands!
Use us as you wish!
May your will happen in, through, for us.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Are you happy to be God’s tag-end?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you enjoy God’s work in, through, with you!

Giving thanks today for
#701 the whole world is in God’s hands
#702 God’s mission is not on my shoulders
#703 God uses us in his work
#704 God works through me while I rest in His grace
#705 we all do have an important part in God’s mission
#706 all the good I do is done by God, hence I can live stress-free
#707 God’s plans are much higher than mine
#708 God’s presence in us is real
#709 Through Christ we are God’s children
#710 abundant life with God
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Image courtesy of Justin Sheffield. Linking up today with Sharing His Beauty & Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday and