Debbie Taylor Williams
MY LIFE IS HIDDEN WITH CHRIST
“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Paul explains in Colossians 3:3 that we have “died” – are separated from sin’s power. How is it, then, he now speaks of our lives? Life in this passage is defined as, “the state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animate.” It’s a reference to absolute fullness of life. It is life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by a more perfect body, to last forever. In other words, our ultimate life – that which spiritually enlivens and animates us – isn’t found in a person, job, child, home, or anything else. It’s found/hidden in Christ. It is spiritual. Those who aren’t Christians and those who aren’t walking closely with Christ, don’t understand the exuberance of life that is possible in Christ. But those who do, rejoice!
Heavenly Father, thank You for the exuberance You give me in Christ; and that my life is hidden/concealed with Him; safe and alive forever.
From If God in In Control, Why Am I a Basket Case?
I AM HEAVENLY MINDED
“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
What are you thinking? Has anyone ever asked you that? It’s a good question. Are our thoughts anxious? Are they negative? Or, are they rejoicing on the things above and God’s goodness? This is the second time in two verses that we’re directed to “things above.” Above here means “on high.” Paul explains that, since we’ve been crucified with Christ, we should continuously think on Christ and our higher calling in Him. This doesn’t mean that we ignore our earthly responsibilities. However, it does mean that we take proactive measures to think on and absorb Christ’s perspective, love, and power over earth’s values, emptiness, and weakness. How do we do this? It’s a choice. To set means “to direct one’s mind to a thing.” Every day when we wake, we set our minds on the things above by directing our thoughts to God in prayer. We set our minds on the things above by reading the Bible. We set our minds on that which is outlined in Philippians 4:8. Gravity may pull our feet to earth, but God calls us to set our minds on the things above.
Heavenly Father, help me set my mind on the things above. May I be increasingly heavenly minded rather than earthly minded.
From If God in In Control, Why Am I a Basket Case?
I AM A SEEKER of THINGS ABOVE
“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
Is your spiritual life dry? If so, perhaps it’s because you haven’t been aware of this verse or known that as a Christian you’re to be a seeker of the things above. In this passage, seek means “to find out by thinking, meditating, reasoning; to strive after or crave.” The verb tense is a command to continuously seek, to keep on seeking as our general habit or lifestyle. Children seek to find eggs at Easter. They eagerly get their baskets and look for hidden eggs. Colossians 3:1 reminds us that we should be just as intentional about opening our Bibles and seeking to better know our Lord, His ways, about heaven, and so much more. When we do, our spirits are whetted, stimulated with desire to know Christ more.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the reminder that my role in life is not to seek earthly things, but rather to seek “the things above where Christ is.”
From If God in In Control, Why Am I a Basket Case?
I AM ALIVE TOGETHER WITH CHRIST
“When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,”
Before salvation, we are dead in our sins and the “uncircumcision of our flesh.” Dead is a metaphor for “spiritually dead, destitute of a life that recognizes and is devoted to God, given up to trespasses and sins, destitute of force or power, inactive, inoperative.” Dead is our spiritual condition prior to salvation. The divine Spirit of God isn’t operative in unsaved people who sin without remorse. Spiritually dead doesn’t mean spiritually annihilated. It means spiritually separated from God. Paul explains that prior to salvation we’re dead in our transgressions. Transgressions carries overtones of “falling beside or near something, a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness, a sin, misdeed.” Were we to die in this fallen state, we’d be separated from God; fallen eternally in the kingdom of darkness. However, through Christ, God forgives us all our transgressions and makes us alive together with Christ. If you’ve not said, “Hallelujah,” and responded to His offer of salvation, why not now?
Heavenly Father, what a joy to contemplate that I am alive together with Christ for eternity!
From If God in In Control, Why Am I a Basket Case?
I AM CIRCUMCISED IN MY HEART
“and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;”
“Circumcised? What are you talking about? I’m not a man nor a Jew,” we may say. Of all the ways that Christians are identified in Christ, this may sound the strangest. What does it mean that believers are circumcised? Romans 2:28 explains, “but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” In other words, when God convicts us that we’re sinners and we repent and confess Jesus as Lord; believing in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we’re saved. (Romans 10:9) The identifying “mark” of being saved is not wearing a cross or being physically circumcised. Rather, it is that we behave differently because the Spirit has circumcised our hearts and done away with the reigning power and penalty of sin. Have you been circumcised in your heart? If not, repent. Confess to God that you can’t change your heart, but You know He can. Confess Jesus as Lord. Let the Spirit do the inward surgery that only He can do to give you a new heart that beats for Christ.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for sending Jesus to die on the cross so that the power and penalty of sin would no longer be the reigning power in my heart. Help me live by the heartbeat of my new heart.
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I AM STABLE IN CHRIST
“For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.”
Talk to anyone who has experienced an earthquake and they will tell you how frightening it is. No one likes to feel shaken. One of God’s gifts to us is a firm foundation in Christ. Jesus spoke of the importance of building our lives on Him in Luke 6:47-49. “Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, …is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been built well.” What a blessing Christians have in the gift of a firm foundation in Christ and God’s Word.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for Christ, the firm foundation on Whom I can build my life and not be shaken.
From If God in In Control, Why Am I a Basket Case?
I AM NOT DELUDED
“I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument.”
Have you ever had the “wool pulled over your eyes;” in other words, someone lie to you? Perhaps they convinced you that something was true when it wasn’t. Or, that something was false when it was true. In the early church, even as today, there are those who try to dissuade us from believing in and following Christ Jesus. But, I am not deluded in Christ. Rather, my whole realm of understanding opens like a flower the more I plunge into the wealth of knowledge that comes through reading His Word. No, in Christ, I am not deluded. I am freed to think and meditate on the highest of concepts and realities that extend beyond what my eyes can see.
Heavenly Father, thank You that in Christ a wealth of knowledge and truth opens before me. I can come into Your presence through the Bible and sit and absorb knowledge that extends beyond the world’s reasonings. I can not only know truth, but experience truth in my inner man.
From If God in In Control, Why Am I a Basket Case?
I HAVE CHRIST, IN WHOM ARE HIDDEN ALL the TREASURES of WISDOM & KNOWLEDGE
“Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Are you a seeker of hidden treasures? Hidden means “secret, stored up.” Treasures is the place in which good and precious thing are collected and laid up. Colossians 2:1-3 awakens us to understand that good and precious things are laid up, hidden, and stored in Christ. Bible commentator Wuest notes the following. “The force of this passage then is this: all, and not merely some of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are contained in Christ; therefore the search for them outside of Him is doomed to failure. But not only are they in Christ, but they are contained in a hidden way. Therefore they do not lie on the surface, but must be sought for earnestly, as men seek for hidden treasure. They are not matters of external observances, such as false teachers enjoined, but to be apprehended by deep and serious meditation.”
Heavenly Father, thank You for my salvation and for the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ. Help me increasingly seek His wisdom and knowledge through deep and serious meditation on Your Word.
From If God in In Control, Why Am I a Basket Case?
CHRIST’S POWER MIGHTILY WORKS WITHIN ME
“For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”
Does Christ’s power mightily work within you? It can. It should within each of us. The apostle Paul, who wrote these words was flesh and blood – just like us. What made him different was that he was “sold out” for Jesus. What does that mean? It means that he had an encounter with the living Christ and believed that Jesus was who He said He was; that nothing made more sense than committing his life to serving Christ. Paul said Christ’s power mightily worked within him. In this verse, working means “working efficiency, used only of superhuman power.” It is power in exercise. Our word energy is derived from this word. Mightily is power in the sense of natural inherent ability. Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament for the English Reader says, “The struggle is carried on in proportion, not to Paul’s natural powers, but to the mightily working energy of Christ within him.” Isn’t this exciting? The mighty working energy of Christ is in you if you’re a Christian. Perhaps if we’re spiritually impotent it’s because we’re living by our strength rather than Christ’s.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of Christ’s Spirit and power which mightily works within the believer. Help me be ever sensitive to His Spirit and serve Him wholeheartedly.
I am COMPLETE in CHRIST
“We proclaim Him (Jesus), admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”
Have you ever thought about how exciting it is that you are “complete in Christ”? So often, we feel anything but complete. There’s always another “step” for how to do something better or faster. Few people would say they complete their daily “to do” list. Personally, we may at times feel incomplete; that there’s something missing. However, the Bible teaches that we are positionally complete “in Christ.” In other words, there’s nothing more we can add to the completed work Christ did in securing our salvation. When He said from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), He meant it. The price for our redemption was paid in full. In Christ, we have everything we need for “life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3) What a joy it is to say with the apostle Paul, “we proclaim Him” as we grow in our knowledge of all we have in Christ.
Heavenly Father, I rejoice when I meditate on the gift of being complete in Christ. Help me increasingly grow in the knowledge of Christ and walk by His wisdom.
