Is communion with Jesus part of Christian life

Is communion with Jesus part of Christian life?

The experience of Jesus

The spontaneous answer to this title question is "yes." We Christians should live in communion with Jesus; this communion with him is a sign that we are really his disciples and believe in him. That is what we should do.

Living in communion with Jesus

The communion with Jesus is by faith and through faith; faith enables us to "see" him and to "talk" with him. We may communicate and relate with Jesus in different ways:

1. Praising God. We may relate and be in communion with Jesus praising God with him. The main purpose God had to glorify Jesus was his own glory. When we praise God with Jesus, we "give" God the highest glory we can give to him. This "give" is metaphorical, since we can not give anything to God; but this means that God accepts, by his love, our praise with Jesus.

2. Giving thanks to God. Thanksgiving is another of our fundamental obligations with God. Paul wrote: whatever we do in word or deed, we should do in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:17). This is what we should do.

3. Recognizing Jesus as Lord of all. Another way for us to relate with Jesus is recognizing him as our Lord and as having primacy over the whole universe. We may accept him as Lord when we are obedient to his teachings, in particular the love of neighbor.

4. Accepting the Primacy of Jesus. We may accept the primacy of Jesus and see him as the "Preferred Son" of God. He has primacy over everything because, as Paul says: all fullness should dwell in him (Colossians 1:19), and he has the preeminence on all (Colossians 1:18).

How we might see Jesus

Traditional Christianity has seen Jesus as God, "of the same nature as the Father," as it was defined at the Nicene Council. Even Catholic theologians debate this issue today. Personally, I prefer to see Jesus in a different way.

1. Jesus, as our brother and friend. This is what I believe Jesus is, our brother; one of us, who is able to sympathize with our weakness, because he was tempted as we are (Hebrew 4:15). I think that the New Testament presents Jesus as a humble human being, although I agree that there are some expressions that might be confusing for us today, two thousand years after they were written.