Hidden

Wow! You know the times when you read a very familiar verse and then, all of the sudden, the Holy Spirit decides that He will open up the flood gates of divine wisdom and reveal the beautiful depth of God's Word to us. Well, I had one of those moments today, and the more I think about the verse the more it stirs me up. Ok, Ok, I'll tell you what the verse is now. Col. 3:3 "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." My sinful nature, my independance, my condemnation, my aimless life is DEAD! My life, God's abudance, practical wisdom, pure joy, deep peace, the ability to truly love, contentment, fulfillment, and satisfaction is all hidden in Christ, God's Son. My life is not hidden in work. It is not hidden in relationships. It is not hidden in my favorite activities. The ways of this world certainly do not hold my life. It finally hit me that I am wasting so much time not really living. I'm trying to resurrect the dead me, but the old Steve is dead. The new Steve, the real Steve, is hidden in Christ. So how do find this life if it is hidden? Simply Seek. Ask, knock, seek, and it will be found. God is our amazing Father, and he has promised us every good thing. The problem is that my heart does not desire this deep life. My heart is tied up in so many vain and aimless pursuits. God has truly stirred my soul to desire good, but i can most definitely relate with the hymn writer when he wrote, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love." I know that I am not a hopeless case though. I just need a lot of work. I am so happy that I know my life is hidden with Christ in God. It's been there the whole time. The verses before this verse uncover the deep but simple secret to uncovering this full life that is hidden. "If then you were raised with Christ" (Ok, yeah that's me, what now?), "seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. (How do I do that?) "SET your MIND on things ABOVE, NOT on things on the EARTH." Do not let this world distract you from the heavenly mindset. It so easily does. Seek (with your whole heart, not a divided heart) the true and divine life hidden in Christ. Look for it in solitude, in His Word, through listening to the Spirit, through real fellowship with believers, through conversation with God, through absatining from the world (lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life), through thankfulness, etc. Maybe look at it this way. If you knew that there was a mountain that contained real gold, real treasure, would you waste your life just scraping by. I would hope that I would start mining my way into that mountain. You would be a fool to be to apathetic or too stubborn to uncover certain treasure. However, I live so foolishly, so aimlessly. In closing, "you have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created Him." It all comes back around. We were created full of true life in the very image of God Himself. We refused life, earned death, and now Christ has redeemed us. We've been given a fresh start, so we should not just be satisfied with the start. More and more life is uncovered by moving forward, seeking above, and being renewed.

Deeper
Romans 12:1-2; I John 2:15; John 10:1-10; Hebrews 11:6; Phil. 3:7-8, 2:21, 3:12-15; Matt. 6:33; Ps. 37:4