Tuesday, February 27th, 2024
Scripture: Col. 3:3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Col. 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Teaching: Continuing his application of what it means to live in Christ, Paul reminds us that this life we live now is already assured of eternal life with Christ. While we may not feel markedly different after coming to faith and being sealed by the Holy Spirit, in fact, everything is different. Paul, in this section, is contrasting the old life with the new for believers in Christ, and in verse 3, he says “your life is hidden with Christ in God.” What he means here is that while we, as people, share the same basic needs and limitations as anyone else in the world, our true life, which is in Christ, is “hidden” or “unseen” just as Christ is currently “unseen” or “hidden” from the world (as He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven). But, the fact that he is unseen does not mean he is absent.
Thus, though the world cannot see our new life with their eyes, just as they cannot see Christ with their eyes, that does not mean it is not real. As verse 2 urges us, we are to set our minds on the things above, which are real, righteous, and peace-giving. But the result of living in such a way – knowing in our hearts that we have new life in Christ despite the earthly limitations on our present bodies or what the world says about Christ – is given in verse 4. When Christ returns, what we have been living for will be made apparent, or revealed, “with Him in glory.” When Christ returns, we shall be like him says 1 John 3:2. The life in Christ that is hidden now will be revealed in each of us when we shed this sinful body and live eternally with Christ (2 Cor. 5:1-5).
Takeaway: It is hard to be a Christian and to live a life that witnesses for Christ in our world today. There are real-life consequences for proclaiming the name of Jesus, and to make things even more difficult, not all who proclaim Jesus actually know Jesus (Matt. 7:15-20). So what are we to do? Trust in the one who has raised you to life. Jesus has done all that was necessary to give you new life in Him, so if you have died with Him and been raised to new life in Him, trust in Him for all things. There is a coming day when each of our relationships with Christ will be revealed and all the cares of this world will no longer be important. Only Christ will be important then; so today, live like that day is coming soon, because it is.