“In Him”

   Abraham Lincoln was walking into town one day when he was overtaken by a man in a wagon going in the same direction.  Lincoln hailed him and asked, “Will you have the goodness to take my overcoat to town for me?”
   “With pleasure,” responded the stranger, “but how will you get it again?”
   “Oh, very easily.  I intend to remain in it!”
   Mr. Lincoln’s humor aside, his idea for a ride roughly parallels what happens when we trust Christ as Savior.  We put on Christ and are clothed in His righteousness.  Because we are in Him, we are assured of reaching our destination: salvation and eternal life.  But apart from Christ we are left, as it were, standing by the side of the road—and no amount of good works or ritual-keeping can save us.
--Biblical Illustrator

   “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures.  We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.  But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs, having the hope of eternal life..”  (Titus 3:3-7)

- via THE SOWER, a weekly publication of the Arthur Church of Christ, Arthur, IL. Ron Bartanen, who serves as minister and editor, may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.arthurchurchofchrist.com