We are now in Christ, and His glory and power is at work in us and through us. This is how we co-labor with Him. We have been studying our call to co-labor with Christ. I want to end this study by looking at what it means for us to be in Christ and for Christ to live in us.

The fullness of God dwelt in Christ, and we have been filled in Him.

When I plant things in my garden, one of the most important things is the soil. When the soil is rich and has the right nutrients, the roots will go deep and the plants grow strong. If roots are shallow, go out far yet stay close to the top of the soil, plants and trees don’t grow well. And even if they do grow, they will not have much strength to withstand storms.

Another interesting point is the faster something grows, usually the less longevity and strength it has. Roots have to go deep for there to be strength. We are to be rooted and grounded in Christ!

So what does it mean to be rooted and grounded in Christ. Here Paul says that we become rooted and build up, the same way we received Him. How did we receive Christ? By faith! How do we become rooted and grounded? By faith! Or maybe better said, by growing deeper in the faith. He gives us one more thought to help us and that is that we should abound in thanksgiving!

Giving thanks to the Lord in all circumstances will help us in keeping our focus on Him and on Kingdom work.

In my garden, there are plants that I have planted, and they look beautiful. There are others that are what we call volunteers, they just appear, they try to take root, but usually don’t survive really well. They come along for the party in my yard, but they don’t take root in the right places and end up dying.

Paul tells us that all we need is in Christ. So we must seek to know Him and understand His fullness. He tells us that we have been filled! This has been the goal for me, to understand what it means for Christ to have been filled with the fullness of God and for me to be filled in Him. I made it my goal to make sure my roots go deep in Him. As I grow up into Him, I find that my understanding of who I am in Christ, and who He is in me, deepens and is strengthen to help me stand strong in the storms and issues of life! Don’t just be a hearer; learn to be a doer of the Word. Apply to your life what you learn, stand strong, and watch your roots go deep.

We must be rooted, established and grounded in Christ!

Take the time to get to know who you are in Christ. Find your true identity in Him and stay rooted and grounded in Him! Christ is our solid rock and our firm foundation. But also, get to know who you are.

There is such a wonderful bliss in knowing who you are in Christ!

Understanding our unity with Christ is essential to understanding our co-laboring or co-working with Him. It is also a different view than historically the church has presented of us working for Christ. Working with Him, as He lives in us, is very much different than working for Him while He maintains some guardianship over us in heaven requiring that we serve Him in order to please Him. Sonship brings us into a different understanding of our position in the Kingdom.

We need to keep learning how we can co-labor with Christ in building His Kingdom. I believe Holy Spirit is going to give us new and inventive ideas on how we can do this.