Devotional - 99-08-31 - Port's Faithful Shepherd

Chapter 2, Part 1

John 5:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

"Get your union with, and interest in Christ, cleared and confirmed to you daily more and more, that you are a branch in his vine, a member in his body, 2 Corinthians 13:5. This may be done three ways.

1. By the daily renewal of your faith in Christ, especially of that act of faith, whereby the soul knits or ties itself unto Christ, casts or rolls itself upon Christ for salvation. Cause your heart in a solemn manner every day to act this part, or put forth this primitive act of faith in view of the whole soul.

   The daily exercise hereof will increase and strengthen the divine habit of faith in the soul, and make the soul sensible of the very act of it; by frequent believing, you shall feel at your very heart, that you do believe, so shall you have a witness in yourself that you are in Christ, 1 John 5:10." --Robert Port

The admonition of Port in the beginning of this second chapter is to get our union with and interest in Christ confirmed daily more and more. Union with Christ is a wonderful part of being a Christian. It is a theological term and for that reason, we don't hear much about it these days. Theology is relegated to pastors and really "serious" Christians. Too bad, because such a doctrine as Union with Christ, if understood, would be a source of hope and joy for the Christian. No one has made this theological doctrine more practical than Jonathan Edwards, America's greatest theologian.

"By virtue of the believers union with Christ, he does really possess all things. That we know plainly from Scripture; but it may be asked, How he possesses all things; what is he the better for it; how is a true Christian so much richer than other men? To answer this, I will tell you what I mean by possessing all things. I mean that God, three in one, all that he is, and all that he has, and all that he does, all angels, men and devils, sun, moon, stars, land and sea, fish, and fowls, all the silver and gold, all beings and perfections, as well as mere man, are as much the Christian's as the money in his pocket, the clothes he wears, or the house he dwells in, or the food he eats; yea, more properly his, more advantageously, more his than if he commanded all these things mentioned to be just in all respects as he pleased, at any time, by virtue of their union with Christ; because Christ, who certainly does here possess all things; is entirely his, so that he possesses it all...All the universe is his, only he has not the trouble of managing it; but Christ, to whom it is no trouble to manage it, manages it for him a thousand times as much to his advantage as he could himself, if he had the managing of all the atoms in the universe." --Jonathan Edwards

The beauty of being united in Christ. If you name the name of Christ as the Savior of your soul and the Lord of your life, so also you call yourself united to Him in His death and resurrection. Union with Christ is the life blood of the Christian. It is the ingrafting of the our branch into the branch of life that Christ possesses. It is precisely our Union with Christ upon which the Christian hope rests upon. Christ is ours, and we are Christ's.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

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