Union with Christ Quotes

“Against the prevailing mindset of our day—you are what you make of yourself—union with Christ tells you that you can discover your real self only in relation to the One who made you. You are not, you cannot be, self-made. Union with Christ tells you that you can only understand who you are in communion with God and others. And that is a wildly countercultural claim. A”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“When I base my Christian life on my Christian experience, I become locked in the labyrinth of my own performance. I am only as sure of God as my current emotions and obedience allow. My eyes are fixed on myself. The gospel, the good news, is the way the Holy Spirit turns our eyes away from ourselves and onto Christ. The gospel brings you into union with Christ. Christ enters your heart and gives you faith. By that faith, you receive Christ and all his fullness. Faith fixes your eyes on Christ and rests in him. The”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Salvation is not mostly a matter of relocation; it is a matter of transformation. It does not consist primarily of ending up in the right place, but being made into the right person.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“This is how you keep in step with God’s Spirit: faith and repentance.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Life with God is not like a motorboat, where we are in control of the power and direction. But neither is it like a raft, where we just sit back and are carried along. It’s like sailing. While we can’t control the most important thing—the wind that makes us move—that doesn’t mean there is nothing left for us to do. We have to draw the sail to catch the wind. We must labor to be brought near.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“You can cling to him and find that he is a complete savior—he frees you from sin’s penalty and power—that is the double grace! And life is not possible without both.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“When anxious and distressing feelings arise, you can know you are not alone. You are in Christ:”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“No one can attain any degree of holiness without God working in his life, but just as surely no one will attain it without effort on his own part. God has made it possible for us to walk in holiness. But He has given to us the responsibility of doing the walking.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Adam and Eve, in their shame, tried to cover themselves with fig leaves (Gen. 3:7). You, though, are covered completely by Christ. Christ fully covers us in all of our shame. Christ”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“In Christ, you are accepted. But that acceptance no longer has to be earned or maintained; it is granted by grace and guaranteed in Christ. This doesn’t mean you stop working, but it does mean you now work in a totally new way. You no longer work for approval; you work from approval. American”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“It is a beautiful dance: our highest joy is found in God’s glory, and God is most glorified in us when we find our highest joy in him. And”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“We must use our imaginations if we want to fully inhabit and experience the Christian life.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Faith is how union with Christ becomes operative and powerful in your life. Faith is a God-given gift that allows you to take hold of God’s having taken hold of you. If you are in Christ, this is now the defining truth of who you are. Your life, your story, becomes enfolded by another story—Another’s story. That’s one way to define faith: faith means finding your identity in Christ.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Communion between God and man is the end to which both creation and redemption are the means; it is the goal to which both theology and preaching must ever point; it is the essence of true religion; it is, indeed, the definition of Christianity. 14”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“To be found in Christ means you don’t have to prove yourself anymore. Your frantic attempts to find or craft an acceptable identity, or your tireless work to manage your own reputation—these are over and done. You can rest. In Christ. You don’t have to be intimidated by anyone, ever. Who are you? You are in Christ! And you no longer need to fear the judgment of God (1 John 4:18). When God looks at you, he sees you hidden in Christ. This is freedom. This is confidence. This is good, good news.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“We must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value to us. Therefore, to share in what he has received from the Father, he had to become ours and to dwell within us … for, as I have said, all that he possesses is nothing to us until we grow into one body with him … To sum up, the Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ effectually unites us to himself. 22”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“The Son of God assumed our full human nature to redeem our full human nature. Jesus was “born of woman” (Gal. 4:4) “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Rom. 8:3). He was tempted in every way as we are, so that he is able to sympathize with us, and yet he was without sin (Heb. 4:15). Though he was innocent, he “gave himself for our sins” (Gal. 1:4) and died in our place (1 Pet. 3:18) to deliver us from the power of death (Heb. 2:14). He was raised for us (Rom. 4:25) that we too might pass from death to life (John 11:25). He “ascended far above all the heavens” (Eph. 4:10), where he sits “at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1) and “lives to make intercession for [us]” (Heb. 7:25), as our “high priest forever” (Heb. 6:20). 5”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“But when you can do anything, and it’s up to you to choose, then that long list of possibilities, coupled with the significance of your choice, can be paralyzing. The weight of the possible is heavy indeed. Second, and closely related to the first, this mindset leads to greater anxiety. In The Weariness of the Self, Dr. Alain Ehrenberg explores why depression has become the most diagnosed mental disorder in the world. It’s empirically true that the incidence of anxiety and depression is higher today than it has ever been. After studying the history of depression, Ehrenberg concludes that the phenomenon is on the rise today because of increased feelings of “inadequacy,” arising from a social context in which “success is attributed to, and expected of, the autonomous individual.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“First, to our paralysis. Union with Christ gives us permission to rest. We don’t have to be burdened by the weight of the possible. We do have so many choices. But union with Christ says there is one choice more important than any other choice you will make: Thy will be done or my will be done? As long as your will is set on following Christ, you can rest in the choices you make. You don’t have to be frozen in fear because your life is no longer in your own hands. You can surrender your plans to Christ, who has joined his life to yours.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“We are not alone. He knows our frame because he assumed it. He knows we are dust because he became it. And now dust sits on the throne of the universe.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Union with Christ is an enchanted reality. It tells us that the most important things about our lives cannot be seen or touched with our senses. It tells us that there are extraordinary depths running just below the surface of our lives,”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“The mystery of the marriage union between Christ and the soul is what allows sinful people to truly possess Christ’s righteousness and allows Christ to take upon himself our sin, death, and condemnation.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Union with Christ means we are part of a larger family, a broader mission, a longer story, a bigger world, and a deeper love.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“There is nothing more liberating or life giving than knowing that God has pronounced you innocent—legally innocent—now that you are united to Jesus Christ.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Psalm 56:9, “This I know, that God is for me.” Being able to say, come what may, this I know, that God is for me—this is the life of faith.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Jesus makes it clear that the amount of fruit that comes out of our lives will be a direct result of how much (John 15:5) or how little (v. 6) we heed his commandments. In fact, he goes on to say, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love” (v. 10).”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Nevertheless, we must always keep pressing on to know him (Hos. 6:3).”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Jesus reminds us, “the wind blows where it wishes” (John 3:8).”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Not only is Jesus our high priest; he is our sympathetic high priest.”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

“Remember, union with Christ means that when God looks at you, he sees your life hidden in Christ’s perfect life and perfect obedience. It is finished. Thank God!”
― Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God