The Daily Impact of Union with Christ

The most profound reality of your life—the truth that you are united to Christ—can transform not only your eternity but every moment of your day. If you are a believer, you are united to Christ at this very moment. Did you remember that this morning when you rose and began your daily routine? How will this knowledge affect you as you go about the remainder of your day? If we truly understand what it means to be united to Jesus, it should impact us profoundly.

What does it mean to be united to Christ? The cross of Christ has satisfied the punishment our sins demanded, and his righteousness is counted as ours. This legal standing is the foundation of our union with Christ, but it is not all that union entails.

Michael Horton reminds us of the importance of both the legal and relational aspects of our union with Christ when he compares it to marriage. He says, “To be sure, the objective fact of one’s marriage provides the security of the relationship, but there is more to marriage than the ceremony and legal documents.”

Legally, if you are married, you are married, and that does not wax or wane. However, there is more to marriage than legal standing. There is the experiential union. Fellowship and communion are part of it. Horton goes on to say, “We grow experientially in this union as we come to know, communicate with, and respond to each other.”

As you slipped out of bed this morning, you may have been mindful that your sins are forgiven and you have been declared righteous in Christ, but did you remember that your union with Christ is to be your most intimate relationship? Your salvation does not wax or wane if you are a Christian, but your relationship with Jesus can grow closer.

It is too easy for us to forget our first love. When we do that and walk into places we should not go or visit places online that we should not visit, there is a sense in which Christ goes with us. Like a spouse acting in unfaithful ways or simply being negligent, the relational part of the marriage suffers, even if the legal claim is still intact.

Though the negative impacts should concern us, the primary motivation to live in conscious union with Christ is not fear of the damage that occurs when we neglect our first love. What should drive us should be our love for him and the blessedness of that union when it is healthy.

Union with Christ is such a glorious reality that it should transform every moment of our day. There is never a moment when we are alone. He is with us when the day ahead of us is more than we can handle. When we turn off the TV at the end of the day, and the silence of the house feels overwhelming, he is there.

Fellowship and communion with your Savior is always available; the more we live in it, the sweeter it grows. By the power of the Spirit, Jesus does not only give us his gifts; he gives us himself, and the blessing of being united to Jesus will only grow richer the more we grow in communion with him.

-D. Eaton