These past several months, I have had two recurring thoughts that have consistently returned to my mind. The first is, what do I take for granted in my life? Growing up in a Christian home, it has sometimes been easy for me to take for granted those things that have enabled me to be where I am in life. The second recurring idea has come more recently from a study of Colossians, where the verse “Christ in me, the hope of glory” has grabbed my heart. The implications of “Christ in me” can be difficult to fully grasp.
What does it truly look like to have Christ in you?
Now let me come clean—I forgot to write this article and turn it in when it was due. I received an email reminder several weeks before the due date and thought, I need to be careful or I will forget to do this. Well, I still forgot. I often smile at the response of an older lady in our congregation who, when asked how she is, may respond, “I’m doing okay, but my forgetter is getting better all the time.” I can relate.
“Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins, and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion” (Psa. 103:2-4 NIV).
We should respond with praise as we remember the things God has done. Our salvation through the finished work of Jesus is an incredible gift that should always be at the forefront of our praise. Christ came so that we can be forgiven, and while we rest in salvation through Jesus, we shouldn’t minimize the benefit of our lives being redeemed from the pit. Herein lies the challenge: sometimes, when growing up in a Christian home and environment, I don’t see my life as a pit, so this redeeming work is easily taken for granted.
This redeeming work was at the center of much of the apostle Paul’s teaching. In Galatians 2:20, he declares, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” This is a bold statement for anyone, especially someone with a background in persecuting the church. Paul writes to all of us about this redeeming work.
“…the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:26-27).
What does it truly look like to have Christ in you? I was recently having a conversation with an inmate in a state prison, trying to communicate what this may look like. I suggested he think about it this way—when Christ is in you, sooner or later, the light of Jesus will start showing through the cracks. I truly believe that the “hope of glory” is not just referencing some future time, but is for this life also, just as the psalmist writes, “he…crowns you with love and compassion” (Psa. 103:4b).
The great overarching theme through all of this is the assurance that, with Christ living in us, we have the confidence of living a victorious, free life today. Free from bondage, fear, and regret. Free from the strongholds and bondage of sin. Free to rest in the Spirit’s power and not our own. Free to truly live in all that Christ leads us into. One of the most ironic things about the Apostle Paul may be that while he wrote many of his letters from prison, there may have been no one else who felt as free as he did.
Let’s not forget the benefits of Christ in us through the Holy Spirit and the freedom and confidence that can bring into our lives every day. Can we invite the Father to use each of us to shine the light of Jesus into our world? Let’s not just allow His light to shine through the cracks, but let us truly reflect the image of Christ in all of His glory into our world.
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