“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-19 NASB1995)

It is a very popular teaching today that we can be “in Christ” by a mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ, no dying to sin and no obeying God required. For they call that “works salvation.” Therefore, they can continue living in deliberate and habitual sin with no requirements for obedience to our Lord’s commands in holy living. So, when they sin habitually, if they begin to feel guilty about their sin, many of them are being taught to just “claim who you are in Christ,” and they are given a list of things to claim.

But we are not “in Christ” via lip service only. We are “in Christ” when by biblical faith in Christ, which comes from God, and not from ourselves, we deny self, die to sin daily, and we walk in conduct in obedience to our Lord and to his commands – all in the power of God living within us. For to be reconciled to God means that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we exchanged our old lives of living in sin for our new lives in Christ in obedience to his commands so that sin is no longer our practice, but we now obey our God in practice.

For God not counting our sins against us is not accomplished by us giving our Lord lip service only. While it is true that we do nothing in ourselves to earn or to deserve our own salvation, it is not true that we are saved from our sin and on our way to heaven if we do not change, and if we continue living in deliberate and habitual sin against our Lord, and not in walks of surrender to his will in obedience to his commands. For Jesus taught that we must deny self, die to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience to be “in Christ.”

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Acts 26:18]

To My Beloved

Based off I Peter 5:6-9; Ephesians 6:10-20; James 4:4-10
An Original Work / November 14, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Be strong in the grace of Christ, and
Put on His full armor in your fight
Against the enemy of your souls,
And resist him with all your might.
Take up the shield of your faith within you.
Salvation’s helmet – you put it on.
Put on the belt of truth,
And walk in the Spirit,
And you’ll not be ashamed.
Love your Lord Jesus; call His Name.

Call on your Lord and Savior, Jesus, and
Make Him Lord and King of your hearts.
Obey all of His teachings He has given
To you to follow in all His ways.
Repent of your sins. Return to your God.
Follow Him where’er He leads you now.
Humble yourselves in full
Surrender to His will
For your lives today.
Bow before Him, and humbly pray.

Be strong in the grace of Christ, and
Obey your Lord in ev’rything, always
Keeping His teachings in your hearts near you.
Walk with Christ in ev’ry way.
Resist the devil. He will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and He’ll be near you.
Wash your hands you sinners
And double minded.
Weep and wail o’er sin.
With Christ, your new lives begin.

If We are In Christ
An Original Work / March 29, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love