For This Reason 32

[HKHaugan]

There’s nothing worse than being ‘on the outs’ with someone or a group. Everyone wants to be ‘in’ or at least ‘on the in.’ There’s ‘the in group,’ ‘the inner circle,’ ‘inside info,’ ‘insider trading,’ and ‘in the know.’ All it takes is an ‘in’vitation. It’s all ‘in’ who you know. Someone mentioned recently that they had sent their resume to multiple places, a resume loaded with expertise. Ultimately it didn’t make any difference because the available slots were filled by people, most of whom less qualified, knew someone ‘in’ the selection process. That’s the way it is in the business world, in most fields and in fact, in non-profit institutions as well. It’s great to have an ‘in.’

With people and relationships we want to be in their mind and in their heart. It’s the inner connection that binds. When you really mature in a relationship there’s a non-verbal knowing that you have someone with whom you feel a common bond. There is mutual trust. Notice that when you compare what people really want it’s not being ‘in’ like being at one with the world but being ‘in’ one another ‘in’ relationship. It’s not ‘in’stitutional, having an ‘in’sider’ connection, but personal connection that makes life real. The world atmosphere is built on fear, manipulation and control while relationships are built on trust and love. It’s not until the second is dominant in one’s life that you can navigate the first minus fear. It’s more important where we are relationally than where we are institutionally.

When you sum up all the teachings of Jesus He gives us the bottom line that love is the relational key to open lonely hearts frozen by sin. Sin is like the cold wind that bites into the skin causing us to wrap our coat a little tighter around us. We do that don’t we when fear blows its iciness around our hearts? But love is the gentle warm breeze that relaxes our grasp on ourselves and we breathe in the atmosphere around us more deeply because love is not about us but about the other person or persons around us.

But the love that softens and melts is not native to the human heart. It comes from God alone. Jesus was so definitive on this. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Mt.5:44).” This kind of love far exceeds emotional affection, the secular view. Jesus opens love as the deepest spiritual experience of which He declares He is the example, “Love one another as I have loved you (Jn.13:34).” Paul echoes this when he tells the Corinthians that of faith, hope and love, love is the greatest (1Cor.13:13).

It’s precisely here we want to return to being ‘in.’ The real key to being ‘in’ starts with the Lord Jesus. He wants us to be ‘in’ Him. Look at this passage from John 17, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you 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. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me (vs.20-23).” It is quite clear here that Jesus wants us to be in Him and by being in Him we are in the Father.

Paul knows in his own heart the depth of being ‘in’ Jesus. One statement from Ephesians summarizes his view about being in Christ, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit…(Eph.1:13)…In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph.3:12)."

Being ‘in’ Christ brings a whole new meaning to our concern about being accepted, about being ‘in’ and being ‘in’cluded wherever we are and whoever we meet along the way. The freedom and confidence that comes by being in Christ spills over into our horizontal relationships in the world. It means that when we are reading about Him in the Word we are in His teaching. Being in His teaching does something to us as we read. Notice the inner effect of His parables when we think about them, open up our mind to them and their meaning for us personally. Think about things like conviction, comparison with Him, the touch on our heart, the challenge to be something more than we are and all that happens in our emotions and our spirit.

Paul talks about what happens when he is in Christ, “In reading this you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ (Eph.3:4).” Note the word ‘in-sight,’sight within. The Holy Spirit has brought Christ inside His mind, heart and spirit.
Now read what Paul prays for and concludes about being ‘in’ Christ that applies to us, “14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (Eph.3).”
More about being in Christ to come.