He lay on bare my chest at one-day-old. My son, just slightly bigger than my heart, had managed to fill it with more joy than I had ever known. As he lay there, breathing tenderly, he was an extension of me. We were separate, but it didn't feel like it. My heartbeat and his were one.

That’s similar to God and us. Only difference is that we are in him and he is in us. We are not separate. So often we base our Christian walks on Christian principles, instead of the intimate connection we have with Jesus. We are called to live a Jesus-centered life, not just a principled-centered life. The principle-centered life can create in our minds a separation between Jesus and us. We are separate from him, so we see his teachings as principles and attempt to center our lives on them. We observe his attributes and try our best to do what he would do.

However, the scriptures tell us that we have been placed in Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). There’s no separation between us. Jesus doesn’t simply call us just to follow his teachings or to copy him, but to participate in him. 

 “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5) 

As we remain in him we will naturally look and act like Jesus. Indeed, we’ll not only do the things Jesus would do, but we’ll end up actually doing the things Jesus is doing. He’s alive and working through us. Our hearts beat with his.

If you want to learn more about your God given identity and what you are called to then pick up you free eBook Spiritual Gifts eBook you can also use our online Spiritual Gifts Questionnaire to easily discover what spiritual gifts are strongest in you