How do we remain in a vital union, an abiding relationship in which we are in Christ and Christ in us? The path to living in this abiding life includes loving him with our entire being, more than we love self or any other person or thing. It is built upon our surrendering more and more of ourselves to Him and by obeying him quickly and fully in all He directs. Without these we cannot enter into an abiding life.

This is how Jesus lived while incarnated on earth, by the way. He modeled for us a totally surrendered and obedient life, a life of consuming love for His Father lived in union with Him. Read His own words on His relationship with His Father.  “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own but only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.”  “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.” “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves.” (John 5:19; 12:48-50; 14:10-11).

He came in part to show us how it’s done. All that dynamic life you see coursing through Jesus, he received it as we must do — through ongoing dependence upon God. Now, we must give our lives over to Him in the same way to receive the fullness his life. This surrendering but must be an ongoing, continual practice, a way of living each day. Thus the instruction of Jesus in announcing the Kingdom that includes the imparting of His Spirit to indwell us: “From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”” The word “repent” in the literal Greek rendering means to “keep on repenting continuously.“

As we continuously maintain an attitude of repentance from our own living, the Spirit of Christ begins to fill all our being with the life of Christ. Here is the path to true “spiritual formation.” We cannot form our own spirits into Christ likeness by our own efforts. The only path to Christ likeness is “Christ life-ness” – the life of Christ Himself lived in us in place of our efforts and living. 

Only the Spirit of Christ can form the life of Christ in us. No amount of study, prayer, religious activity, or fervor will ever by themselves bring the life of Christ to the fore in us. Never will the self-initiated actions of an unsurrendered person form the life of Christ in that person. Only by our surrendering to allow the Spirit of Christ to control and enliven us can such formation take place.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Prophecy regarding the New Covenant era found in Ezekiel 36:25-27.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain (abide) in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.“ Jesus describing the abiding life in John 15 :5-6.

“I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.“ Part of a prayer of Jesus, as recorded in John 17:20-23.

“For we are the temple of the living God, as God said, “I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”” From a letter to the Corinthian church, recorded in 2 Corinthians 6:16-18.

Image via author, West Tensleep Creek, Cloud Peak Wilderness, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming