Dead with Christ, Hidden with Christ, Glory in Christ! - Himalayan Heights – May 6 Readings: Colossians 3:3-4 – Christ Is Your Life

 Colossians 3:1-17 A Primer in Christian Living

All Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but there are some Scriptures that we can consider the Himalayan mountaintops of the Bible. In the next few months, we will be looking at a series of great texts that inspire and move us - the "Himalayan Heights" of God's Word.

Today's Reading:  Colossians 3:1-17

Colossians 3:1-17 is a step by step guide to Christian living. It is a series of 12 commands, each of which builds on the previous one, laying out how we should live as followers of Jesus Christ. Each day, read the entire 17 verses, then meditate on the verse or verses that are the focus passage.

3 For you 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.

NOTES: We have examined steps 1 and 2 in the basics of Christian living - Heaven in my heart and Heaven in my head. We must choose to make Christ the highest passion of our lives and then have our minds renewed by the word of God. Verses 3 and 4 gives some important background truths about setting our minds on Christ.

Someone might ask, isn't the Christian life about what Christ has done for us? Of course it is, but when the Bible gives us commands, it is what we must do in obedience to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Christian life requires obedience to all that Christ commands.

Through the Bible Readings: 2 Samuel 1-2, Luke 22:1–30, Psalm 57, Proverbs 12:13-14

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional: Dead with Christ, Hidden with Christ, Glory in Christ! 

I find myself becoming more forgetful as I get older. Where are my keys? Where'd I leave my wallet? There are also spiritual truths that I tend to forget, the most basic of them is found in Colossians 3:4. "Christ, who is your life." There is all sorts of import in that simple phrase. Christ is our eternal life, having paid for our souls with his blood. He is also our lives daily - Paul said that for him, "to live is Christ." We find ourselves devoted to the things of this world, getting wrapped up in entertainment, the pursuit of money or power or pleasure. It is easy to forget the ultimate truth.

Christ is my life.

Like an electric appliance only functions when it is plugged into the wall socket, I only have life and hope and peace and joy because I am attached to Christ and I must "abide" in him daily if I want my life to work. When I stray, when I drift, when I fail to seek him, I will be reminded that "without him, I can do nothing."

There are three key truths in this passage that support this truth, that identify us with Christ. First, we have died with Christ. Only a fraudulent Christianity ignores the call of Jesus to "deny yourself and take up your Cross." We focus on the fact that coming to Christ is new life, but there is no new life in Christ until there is a DEATH to the old life. We cannot be raised to a new life in Christ until we are baptized with him into death.

The second truth is that we are hidden with Christ in God. There is much debate about the meaning of this statement, far more than we can deal with here. Put simply, we are safe in Christ and we live our lives by truths that are hidden from the word today. Though we are sinful beings living in corruptible bodies, we are destined for glory and eternal life. The church today is impure and fractured, but it is destined to be one worshiping Body glorifying Christ for eternity. Our world seems headed to destruction and evil appears destined to win, but Jesus is Lord and he will ride from heaven in glory! We live by eternal realities that are not seen today, and the lives we will have are hidden with Christ in God.

Finally, we will appear with Christ in glory. The world constantly tells us that we are on the wrong side of history, that our views are outdated and our faith is fading in to obscurity. They are wrong. One day, Christ will appear and stand as King of kings and Lord of lords. When he does, we will stand with him in victory. We win because Jesus wins. My friend, this world is a mess, but do not be discouraged, because glory awaits!

Jesus died for you, you are hidden with him in God's love and power, and one day you will stand with him in victory. Yes, my friend, HE IS YOUR LIFE!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being my life, for dying for me, for wrapping me in your love and protection, and for guaranteeing my glory. 

Think and Pray:

If you had to say, _______ is my life, how would you fill in the blank?
Could you legitimately say, "Christ is my life?"