United With Christ
Scripture Reading — Romans 6:1-14
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
—Romans 6:4
Weddings are special. Two individual people form a new union, becoming one. The couple make a covenant with one another in which they pledge to love each other until death pulls them apart. The husband and wife leave the single life, and their rings are a statement to the world that they are married.
A major challenge that couples often face—one that can cause dissension and divorce—occurs when husbands or wives choose to live as if they are still single even though they are married.
In some ways, the believer’s relationship with Christ is similar. A Christian is united with Christ. We celebrate that union in the sacrament of baptism. The water of baptism symbolizes cleansing, in the washing away of sin through Christ’s work on the cross, and it symbolizes dying to our old sinful nature and rising to new life in Christ. In baptism, the believer’s identity is forever changed.
The believer is challenged and charged to live faithfully in this new life. As one who now has life in Christ, the believer leaves old sinful ways behind. And that is possible through the powerful renewing work of the Holy Spirit, who comes to live within.
Live in union with Christ! Ask for Christ’s guidance through the Spirit each day.
Lord Jesus, thank you for filling us with new life. Through your Spirit may we stay in tune with you every day. In your name we pray. Amen.
About the author — John Kuperus
Since he was young, John Kuperus has had a passion that everyone would know Jesus. Spreading the good news that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15) is very important to him. To be better equipped for missions, John attended Reformed Bible College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He applied these skills with marketplace evangelism in a business he started in Sussex, New Jersey. This calling continued to follow him, so John attended seminary and became a minister in the Christian Reformed Church, serving a church in Ontario for eight years. Currently he serves as a missionary for Youth with a Mission (YWAM). He witnesses Jesus changing lives as people walk out of the darkness into the light. John is married to Helen, and they have seven children.
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