Week Four: Identity in Christ

This was a fun week.

On Monday, Jerry Bridges - an author and speaker - came in to talk to us about what it means for our identity to be "in Christ." Among the things that he shared was that we are perfect because Christ is perfect. When God looks at our performance, He sees Christ's performance and is pleased. Another interesting part of being "in Christ" is that we are no longer slaves to sin...but we are slaves to righteousness. This interesting concept was one that I would chew on more Tuesday.

During my one on one time Tuesday, I discussed with my team leader about how we view ourselves and how what the Bible says we are because we are in Christ. We talked about the concept of being slaves to righteousness, and agreed that the term "slave" - which has such a negative connotation today due to the Civil War - would have been more like a servant in the days of Jesus. However, because we are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness, we are no longer our own, and we no longer live our lives for ourselves. Following my one-on-one time Tuesday, I took this point away the most and tried to apply it the rest of the week.

Wednesday we heard more from Jerry Bridges. He reviewed a lot of things he had discussed on Monday, and also gave us a list of practical ways to remember what our identity is in Christ. Among them were memorizing certain scripture and reminding ourselves of the gospel everyday.

On Thursday, we had Bible Study at Chick-Fil-A after driving for about an hour to find a good spot. We discussed more of the same ideas - especially "slaves to righteousness" again.
Friday brought the arrival of my family to visit the program. We ate out at a place called Chowder Ted's, and then hung out the rest of the weekend. Friday night, the program held a talent show that was very entertaining and incredibly lighthearted. Saturday was the last Beach Evangelism and a trip to Jacksonville Landing (which is like a mini riverwalk), and today, I went with my family to St. Augustine (the oldest settlement in America) to visit all the tourist sites there. We are going to have rally night tonight so that tomorrow we can go see the fireworks at the beach, but until then, I'm probably going to relax for the few hours I can :).

Thank you to everyone for your prayers for the rain. We went eight straight days with rain, and most of the fires were beat back. We will be praying for those affected by the flooding of the Missouri River.