We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints… – Colossians 1:3-4

Scripture reading: John 15:1-11

Faith unites us to the Lord Jesus Christ so that we share in His fellowship of love with His Father. When we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for our rescue from the power, pollution, partition and penalty of sin, we take hold of Him and put Him on, so that we are no longer clothed in our unrighteousness, but clothed in Him and His righteousness. We are no longer our own, but belong to Him and share in His fellowship of love with His Father. We are adopted into the Father’s family and are loved with the same love with which the Father loves the Lord Jesus Christ.

Faith also unites us to the Lord Jesus Christ so that we share in His ministry of love from His Father that He carries out through His body, His church. The Lord Jesus speaks about this with the metaphor of the vine and the branches, saying that if we want to bear the fruit of love, we need to abide in Him through faith. When we do, the mystery of love will take place in our lives much like the mystery of grapes growing on a vine. As we live in Christ through faith, the Lord Jesus Christ transforms us into His image as He reproduces His life in our lives through His Holy Spirit so that we become His eyes, ears and mouth, His hands and feet in this world. This is what it means to be His body on earth. Paul had heard about this fruit of faith of the Colossians.

Suggestions for prayer

Ask your heavenly Father to unite you to His Son through faith so that it is no longer you who live, but Christ Jesus who lives in you.

This daily devotional is available in a print edition you can buy at Nearer to God Devotional. Rev. Dick Moes is pastor emeritus of the Surrey Covenant Reformed Church in Surrey, BC.