In Christ: Union That Ends Striving

New to the Space

by Rev James M. Armpriester, Jr 

What is Biblical Christianity?

DAY 3 — In Christ

Welcome to Day 3 of exploring Biblical Christianity.

Let me start today with an honest observation. A lot of people don’t reject Christianity because they hate Jesus. They walk away because they’re exhausted.

Exhausted from trying to:

• be good enough
• believe correctly
• stay consistent
• manage guilt
• hide failure
• keep God pleased

And silently, they conclude:“If this is Christianity, I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”

But that exhaustion usually comes from one misunderstanding. They believe near Christianity feels the same as being in Christ.

Scripture says it doesn’t.

Paul writes:  “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

That phrase “in Christ” is not poetic. It is precise.

Christianity does not begin with behavior change.It begins with union.

Today’s Benefit

If you are in Christ, then your life no longer rests on performance.

That means:

• you are forgiven, not excused
• accepted, not evaluated
• joined, not improved

Union replaces striving with security.

Some of you have been working hard at faith — but you haven’t been resting in it. You’ve been trying to live for Christ instead of living from Christ.

And that difference changes everything.

Because near Christianity keeps score. Union cancels it.

Let me ask you the question most people avoid: Are you living in union with Christ — or simply standing near religious activity?

Because you can attend church…Know Scripture…Serve faithfully…And still live like God is watching closely instead of holding you securely.

Near Christianity gives just enough religion to exhaust you —but not enough grace to free you.

Paul does not say, “If anyone tries hard in Christ…” He says, “If anyone is in Christ…”

Union means your life is now located inside Someone else’s life.

It means:

• His righteousness counts as yours
• His standing before the Father becomes your standing
• His victory becomes your identity

You are not climbing toward God. You are received because of Christ.

This is why the Gospel feels both heavy and hopeful:

• sin is taken seriously
• grace is taken more seriously

And this is why Christianity collapses when union is misunderstood.

When people try to obey without union:

• obedience becomes pressure
• failure becomes shame
• growth becomes exhausting

But when union is settled:

• obedience becomes response
• failure becomes occasion for grace
• growth becomes evidence of life

This line exposes the difference clearly:

“Christianity does not invite us to imitate Christ from a distance, but to live from His life within us.” — Sinclair Ferguson

That’s union.

If union with Christ becomes settled in your heart — not just understood, but trusted — your faith will change over time.

A few months from now of living in Christ instead of for Him:

• you’ll obey without panic
• repent without despair
• grow without self-contempt
• worship without hiding

Not because you became stronger, rather because you stopped living unsupported. Union is the end of religious loneliness.

CONCRETE ACTION STEP

Here’s today’s step. It’s small — and deeply clarifying.

Action Step: Name the Striving

1. Identify one area where you feel spiritually tense: guilt, comparison, consistency, prayer, obedience, failure.
2. Say this out loud: “If I am in Christ, I am not proving myself here.”
3. Ask Jesus: “What would it look like to live from union instead of fear?”

Then stop trying to answer it yourself.

Let grace do the work.