COLOSSIANS 1:27 – To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
THEME OF THE DAY. THE REALITY OF CHRIST IN US, THE HOPE OF GLORY. There is a subtle danger facing Christians which might go unnoticed and that for a long-time. It may very well be one of the greatest “silent tactics” of the devil reducing the lives of many Christians to a mechanical, external, mere functional Christianity that is more a joyless experience of just going through the “spiritual motions” than living out Biblical Christianity. Such a life would look like this. We are faithful reading our Bibles yet don’t experience those “wow moments” when reading. We read the Word out of habit or duty, never taking the time to meditate upon it, pray through it, or see Christ in it. Think of those times this has been our sad experience of lifeless reading of the Bible when we spent time early in the morning reading it and come mid-morning or earlier, we don’t remember or apply anything we read. And then there is the merely external functional Christianity of attending church. We wake up on Sunday morning, tired, not really motivated or excited about church, but we go because “we have to” and then we are distracted; so distracted that the word “boring” not “worshipping” described our Lord’s Day experience. Oh, we must hit prayer as well. How often have we not disciplined our flesh for prayer with other believers or alone because we don’t feel like it and thus the “yo-yo” inconsistency in prayer occurs because we are driven by feelings?
Behind all of these spiritual failings and realities in the Christian life is the crafty ploy of the devil. It is his work of forgetting the truth of the indwelling Christ within us. Let’s test my statement. Quick. Did you start your day thinking about the Lord Jesus? Did you talk to Him before you talked to another human being or rushed into your full day of things to do without first taking a trip to heaven? Did you stop and thank God that He is real in your life because you are in union with Him through Christ? What about this, “Are you right now aware that Christ is in you with all the strength, wisdom, and resources you need to get you through everything and anything you are experiencing?” If we are struggling with the reality of Christ in us, the hope of glory, let me encourage you to do a little Bible study that will make your heart soar, restore joy in your relationship with the Lord, and put a smile on your face. Read the Apostle Paul’s prison letters – Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon. As you do, circle, underline, highlight or write down how often Paul refers to being “in Christ, in Jesus, in Him” or other implied statements of the believer’s union with Christ. Here is a hint . . . it is over 160 times! Do so and then rejoice that we are forever in Christ, the hope of glory!
PRAYER: “Father, remind me my life is one with Your Son and all I need each day is found in that union with Him.”
QUOTE: “Forget ‘Christ in you’ and Christianity will be a joyless lifestyle of morality, not Biblical Christianity.”