We can only be ‘like’ Christ if we are ‘in’ Christ. A personal unification in Him will bring about a sanctification through us like Him.

The blessings that we have are all ‘in’ Christ (Ephesians 1). We have been crucified with Christ, raised with Christ, seated in the heavenly places in Christ. Our identity is in Christ.

When He calls us to holiness, He calls us to be who we are; which is profoundly encouraging and free. When we are born again in Christ, He calls us to be who we are in Him, not who we once were. It doesn’t mean the fight against sin is easier or that sin is not even a battle. The union with Christ is fixed and unchanging. It’s a ‘communion’ with Christ that ebs and flows (John 1) but still needs to be worked at.

The Christian life still entails obedience. It still involves a fight. But it’s a fight we will win. You have the spirit of Christ in your corner. There will be things that bring you to your knees, but if you are in Christ, it will never knock you out. You are no longer a slave, but free. Sin has no dominion over you. It can’t, it won’t because a new King sits on the throne. You serve a different master and salute a different Lord.

We often neglect the Spirit in our lives. We do not have a weak Spirit, but we have power in us strengthening us in the inner being (Ephesians 3).

Romans 6 says “you are dead to that.” You died to ‘that’ (sin) and are alive to something new. We need to tell ourselves this and not allow the devil to continue to whisper lies that say ‘This will never change’, ‘I will never show progress’… this is where people feel most defeated. The Spirit that is alive in you, working in us, says “you don’t have to be like this”. You may not be where you’d like to be in the full glorification of Christ…. you may take three steps forward and two steps back but by God’s grace, by Christ’s intercession we can be much more than we are.