Life

Union with Christ in John’s Gospel and letters is the in-one-another relationship of believers with the Father and Son by the Spirit—the intimate, loving, relational participation of the believer and God, each in the life, affections, ways and work of the other.

The following 15 quotes are from Clive Bowsher’s new title Life in the Son: Exploring participation and union with Christ in John’s Gospel and letters.

For Expectant Mothers ONLY. Who knew a parking lot could be so cruel? It was like I just got rejected from the Mommy Club. “No barren women allowed.” The sign could have said: For women whose bodies work right. For women who have had their prayers answered. For women who have something to look forward to. For women with something to expect.

What is the most urgent need of the church today? Better leadership? Better training? Healthier giving? Orthodoxy? Moral integrity? Each of these are undoubtedly needs, but underneath them all lies something even more vital: gospel integrity.

One of the gifts in the church that we see in the pages of the New Testament that is so vitally needed today and neglected—we don’t talk about it much—is the ministry of encouragement.

Dear ones, you are promised so much in this life, but freedom from suffering is not one (Phil. 1:29). Where will you turn when the high tide of illness, injustice, persecution, poverty, or any other kind of evil or unease brings you to an abrupt stop? Let this be an encouragement to warm your souls afresh at the white-hot flame of the Trinitarian love of God. Enough to turn your eyes from the pressures, performance, pain, and problems of this world, is he who wins us again and again by his heavenly kindness. It is this God who desires to be known in Christ and experienced within the deepest recesses of our souls. So it was for the Apostle Paul, and so it is for all of God’s dearly beloved children.

As we head towards another Christmas, let’s be sure to ponder the wonder of that first Christmas and the daily wonder of a God who moved toward us in such a stunning way!

God’s mission in creation and redemption is to bring men and women into the fellowship that Father, Son, and Spirit have always shared.

Sitting in a cute (technical term for “slightly odd”) Welsh pub with fellow Master’s students on an intensive lectures’ week at Union School of Theology, I was delighted when the owner came over and lit the fire. I love a nice fire, and find nothing more satisfying than keeping it ablaze. Having taken ownership of keeping said fire alight, you can imagine how embarrassed I was, when all I seemed able to do was put it out!

It is necessary not only to pray, but also to pray “as we ought” and to pray for what we ought. Our attempt to understand what we should pray for is deficient unless we also bring to our quest the “as we ought.” Likewise, what use to us is the “as we ought” if we do not know for what we should pray?