Good Morning, Beautiful People 

The preposition “in” is a fascinating word, primarily when used in Scripture. The standard definition of “in” is “expressing the situation of something that is or appears to be enclosed or surrounded by something else.” The keywords in understanding the preposition are “enclosed” and “surrounds.” According to the Strong’s Concordance, the preposition appears 12,674 times in 9,526 verses in the King James Version. The preposition "in" is unique because it initiates the biblical narrative, “In the beginning.” Now, if you flip your Bible to Ephesians chapter two, a beautiful picture of this simple word is illustrated— “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10, NIV). The reality that the Bible paints of the human disposition are grim. According to Scripture, our good deeds amount to dung. Our hearts are deceptive, and we are spiritually dead to the things of God. Even Christ says that apart from Him, we can do no good. 

So, where is the beauty in that? The beauty comes back to the simple words that describe our wonderful preposition—enclosed and surrounded. Though we were spiritually dead, God made provisions for us to be alive again. Through grace and by faith, we are alive in Christ; in other words, the entirety of our being is enclosed and surrounded by the beauty of Christ. We are deconstructed and rebuilt in Christ as a masterpiece ready to do good work. Because Christ encloses us and surrounds us, we become light and salt to a dark and tasteless world. We find our true identity in Christ—a masterpiece designed to do good. In the beginning, God created order out of chaos, and today He invites us to leave our chaotic pursuit for significance and salvation so that we can live in Christ as a new creation. To be in Christ is to be truly alive. To be enclosed and surrounded by Christ is the essence of life.