3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:3-4
These
verses have by far taken the longest to put words around. It is so weighty to
think about our life hidden in Christ…and appearing with Him in glory at some
point. How can we grasp that with our finite knowledge and worldly constraints?
In what
ways is our life (Christ who is our life) hidden?
Hidden from
Others
When we
accept Christ as our Lord and Savior something changes in us, but it is hidden
from the world. It is an inner experience, concealed from human view. Others
who haven’t experienced Christ personally just don’t get it. It is foolishness
to the world.
The natural person does not accept the things
of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to
him, and he is not
able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14
Not Yet
Revealed in Fullness
The spirit
of God is within us. In our heart and soul, not our outward flesh. We can’t
physically touch it or see it, but is in us and available to us. We are
made whole and clean by Jesus, but we don’t always feel like it.
I have to
admit is very comforting for God to tell us through Paul that something is
hidden. Paul preaches we have died and been buried and resurrected with Christ;
that worldly things no longer have ownership over us. But let’s be honest…we still sin, we still doubt, we still struggle.
We have this power in us that we somehow
aren’t able to completely embrace. We see the outside mess so clearly, but
the inside full of redemption and power…not so much.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of
his stature, because I have rejected him. For
the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on
the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. 1 Samuel
16:7
God sees
into our heart – with all of it its messy corruption – BUT, He also sees the work
of Christ. He sees our renewed, forgiven, clean self. We are the beautiful valuable
pearl inside the dirty, stinky, weathered oyster shell. We are the tiny seed
planted deep in the soil with the potential to grow into something strong and
fruitful. We are the righteous, holy daughter/son of God inside sinful flesh. There,
but hidden. It truly is hard to wrap our little worldly heads around!
Hidden…Secure/Protected
In addition
to being hidden in the sense of not being yet revealed, we are also hidden in the security of eternal life and love. We are
secure in our salvation, with access to God’s blessings and protected from
spiritual enemies and death.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will
never perish, and no one
will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:27-28
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor
angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living
hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead, 4 to an
inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by
God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little
while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more
precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of
Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:3-7
Appearing with Him in Glory
The most incredible thing is that the hidden will
be revealed when Jesus returns. We will see not only all that God is, but all of who we are in Him!
What is within us that we can’t seem to grasp
hold of in its beautiful fullness will appear and the worldly, sinful pieces
will be no more. The pure, holy, sinless us created by God and redeemed by
Jesus will be all that remains. Can you
even imagine a glorified body free of sin, doubt, shame, anxiety, envy, insecurity,
indulgence, selfishness, pride?
The crazy thing is, that us is already a reality
because of the work of Jesus. The fact that we can’t yet see it doesn’t make it
any less real. It is just hidden, waiting to be revealed. And it will be
revealed when we appear with Him in glory.
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What
is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it
is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural
body, there is also a spiritual body… 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear
the image of the man of heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44,49
Though things are tangibly hidden from us, in us,
with Christ in God for a time…a time will come when the fullness of Christ will
be revealed. For now we walk by faith,
but a day will come when we will walk by sight. Everything will be revealed in
its fullness.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us,
that we should be called children
of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved,
we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3
That is a
promise worth repeating…
We are God’s
children NOW.
What we WILL
BE has not yet appeared.
When He
appears WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM.
We shall SEE
HIM AS HE IS.
WOW!
So stick
with it, friend. Fight the fight. Don’t get discouraged. Keep stepping into
forgiveness. Draw near to God. Search the truth that lies hidden within Jesus. A
day is coming when it will be so worth it.
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