Christianity is not about what we do for God; it is about being a part of what Jesus is doing, about participation in the life of Jesus. And who is Jesus? He is the Father’s Son. He is the one anointed in the Holy Spirit. He is the Creator and Lord, in and through and by and for whom all things were created and are sustained and reconciled. So to speak of Jesus is to speak of the one who lives in relationship with his Father, and in relationship with the Holy Spirit, and in relationship with the human race, and all creation.

Jesus is the center of it all. He has included us in his life and in his world. To participate in Jesus’ life is to give ourselves to share in his relationship with his Father — not to try to create and maintain a relationship with his Father on our own. It is to share in his anointing in the Holy Spirit. And it is to share in his relationship with each and every human being, and indeed to share in his relationship with all creation.

Imagine Jesus’ own free-flowing fellowship and abounding life with his Father, and his own anointing in the Holy Spirit, and his own love and relationship with the human race and all creation coming to personal expression in and through us, until the earth and the cosmos are filled with Jesus’ own life. This is the kingdom of the triune God. And it is already here — now as much as it ever will be. Why? Because Jesus is not absent. And the Jesus who is present is not a miniature version.

Guess what keeps Jesus’ life from coming to full expression in us and throughout the earth? It’s us, the human race. In our profound darkness and confusion, we ceaselessly impose our own ideas, including and perhaps especially religious ideas, upon Jesus and his world. Sin is believing that Jesus is wrong about his Father, wrong about the Holy Spirit, wrong about who we are and what is happening in our lives, and wrong about the cosmos. Sin is insisting that Jesus change his view of his Father, change his view of his relationship with us and with all creation, and come believe in us, come and join us in our terrible confusion.

Sin is essentially insisting that Jesus repent and believe in us. He never will — and he loves us too much to go away. So either Jesus has lost his mind, or we have. He calls us to put our ledgers down and learn from him. Let him teach us who we are and how his Father loves us. Let him teach us how to live in his Spirit. And let him show us how to love with his love and care for his creation with his care.

Dr. C. Baxter Kruger is the Director of Perichoresis Ministries. For more information visit www.perichoresis.org.

Author: C. Baxter Kruger