Closer Than CloseSample

“The Banana Stand: Salvation Is IN Christ”

When I think of salvation actually being in the person of Christ, I can’t help but think of a scene from one of my favorite sitcoms, Arrested Development.

George Bluth Sr., the bread winner of the ridiculously rich and highly dysfunctional Bluth family, is arrested for defrauding investors of the family’s real estate business. He entrusts the financial welfare of the family to his insecure (and borderline incompetent) son, Michael. Determined to prove himself, Michael quickly revives the only remaining source of income the family has left: the Bluth Original Frozen Banana Stand.

Michael works around the clock selling frozen bananas, but despite his best effort, the banana stand fails to be the financial savior Michael expects. Desperate, he visits his father in prison to seek his advice. But the only encouragement George Sr. will offer is the repeated (and somewhat patronizing) assurance that “there’s always money in the banana stand.”

After trying everything, Michael concludes that the banana stand is incapable of generating a profit. Disgusted with himself, his father, and the family’s situation, Michael sets the banana stand on fire, burning it to the ground. He proudly admits his act of arson to his father.

George Sr.: You what???
Michael: Burned it right down to the ground.
George Sr.: Are you crazy? There was money in that banana stand.
Michael: Well, it’s all gone now, Dad, and it was my decision.
George Sr.: There was 250,000 dollars lining the walls of the banana stand!
Michael: What?
George Sr.: Cash, Michael.
Michael: Why didn’t you tell me that?
George Sr.: How much clearer can I say, “There’s always money IN THE BANANA STAND!?!?!”

Michael’s view of the money in the banana stand is the way we often view the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. Many of us believe that Christ has the ability to produce salvation or generate eternal life while never stopping to consider that salvation might literally be IN the person of Jesus Christ himself!

Paul repeatedly claimed in the New Testament that salvation is in Christ. But how? How are we united to Christ, sharing in the salvation that is his? Answer? Through the indwelling presence of the person of the Holy Spirit.

Many early theologians described the Holy Spirit as the shared breath between the Father and the Son. According to John Calvin, the Holy Spirit “truly unites things separated by distance.” (Read that again!) You and I are united to the eternally incarnate Christ (and him to us) by the person of the Holy Spirit.

United to Christ in this way, all that is his becomes ours. Hard to believe? It is. However, over the next few days, we will consider who we are in Christ, united to him by grace through faith.

How does understanding salvation as in Christ change the way you think about Jesus and his role in your life?

How would your life change if you believed that you were united to Christ and already as close to him as possible?