◄ What Does Romans 6:5 Mean? ►

Paul longed to know Christ and the power of His Resurrection, but his heart was also to share in Christ's suffering, for he desired intimate association with the Lord Who bought him, in the everyday circumstances of his life.

Paul knew the importance of relational closeness with the Lord Jesus, for by faith in His sacrificial death on our account, we were positioned in Him, and eternally united with Him. When Christ died, we died in Him, and we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin. He identified with us when He died in our place so that we can identify with Him in the likeness of His resurrected life.

As a result of our new birth, we are united in Him by faith, and all who are truly united together with Christ have been baptised into His Body. All who are positioned in Christ, died to sin when Jesus died on the Cross. But as a member of His Body, we are not only grafted into His death but also joined together with Him in His resurrected life. We are united in life with our resurrected Lord. His death became our death, but His resurrected life became our new, resurrected life, a life which is everlasting.

Paul knew the importance of having a close relationship with His Saviour, which caused him to rejoice and say, "The life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me." We are to follow the example of Paul, and die to self as we live for Christ daily.

Being united with Christ is to be identified with the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. When we are united with Him, the power of the sin nature is severed so that we are enabled to live in newness of life in which grace reigns; the new life of Christ within. 

It is by faith that we are placed in union with Christ. We are positioned in Him through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and it is by being baptised into the Body of Christ at salvation, that we become identified with His death as well as His life.

Like Paul, we need to acknowledge who we are in Christ and we should desire that close intimacy with Him in the everyday circumstances of life. We need to acknowledge Him in the morning time and we need to draw close to Him in the evening hours.

We should walk with Him as we travel along the way, as we live, and as we move. We should honour him as we clean the house, mend the car, shop for groceries, or answer the door. We should honour Him in all we do, whether we eat and drink, when we wake and when we sleep, whatever we do should be done for the glory of God.

Day by day, we should desire a relational closeness with Jesus as we acknowledge Him in 'all' our ways. And when the Word of God says honour Him in 'all' things, it means to draw close to Him with a focused, undivided heart all the time and in every situation.  

Jesus is the One who removes the obstacles on the roadside and He is the One Who bring you to your appointed goal, for the all-seeing God is the One Who has promised in all things to: "Direct your paths and to lead You in the way of righteousness."

Loving Father, thank You that I am united with Christ in the likeness of His death and that His resurrected life has become my life, through time and into eternity. Thank You for directing my life every step of the way, as I follow you. Guide me today and direct my heart and mind into the love of Christ. Draw me into a closer intimacy with Yourself. In the name of Jesus, AMEN.