Christ is My Life

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

(Colossians 3:3)

 What does it mean for my life to be described in this way?

How do I walk in such a reality?

Where do I begin if this is my heart's desire? 

When I speak of "My Life" What Do I Mean?

First, I need to consider the meaning of "my life."  What is "my life?"  Well, it is more than the physical me.  If my appearance suddenly changed, it might impact my life, but "my life" is somehow much more than the physical me.  Who am I day after day?  Others might know my life by my actions, or interactions with them.  But "my life" is more than exterior actions and the words I speak.  My thoughts, my plans, my hopes, my desires and my dreams are all part of who I am.  "My life" is a complex combination.  Part of "my life" is revealed to others.  But, part is inside, hidden from view, for good or bad.  Now, I ask, is this complex combination, which I call "me," like Christ?  Is Christ the center and totality of this combination?  Is Christ "my life?"

How is "my life" revealed to others?  Well, in part, they hear what I say.  What do I say?  How much of my conversation reflects Christ?  Do I speak in a manner which makes it clear that I willingly and with great desire and satisfaction belong to the Lord Jesus Christ?  Do my words reflect a sense of eternal focus?  Or do they suggest that my life is primarily temporal, moved by the present circumstance?  An eternal focus does not render the temporal irrelevant.  But our vivid awareness of the eternal awakens our minds to a greater reality that helps to carry us beyond the trial of the present circumstance.  We may weep when others weep.  We may feel pain when others break.  But we do not do so without hope.  Do our words regularly convey this hope we have?  Do we speak of our Lord Jesus as though our eyes were fixed upon Him?  We tend to steer towards the object of our gaze.  We tend to speak about that which we love.  If "my life" is filled with love of the Lord Jesus, can His name or His words or His great qualities not be the great joy expressed by my tongue?  Is it natural for me to talk of my Lord?  If not, it is hard to imagine that He is "my life".

What Do I Keep within?  We all may be transparent, to some extent.  But we are complex.  We interact with different people in different ways.  Who am I on the inside?  What would an "insider" report about the secret life within me?  Is that secret life the life of Christ?

So far, we have developed a picture of me.  But, the focus ought not be on preserving "my life".  Indeed, if my desire is to improve my life, rather than to allow His life to be my all, I am moving into the wrong kingdom.  An examination of "my life" ought not be to improve me; rather, it should be to reveal who is living within me. Because, herein lies the problem.  It precedes the next question which now follows:

Am I Living?

If Christ is to be "my Life" then someone must move out or vacate the premises in order to make it so.  As Jesus spoke, "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it."  I must "move out" so as to make a place for Him to move in.  I must "lose" my life in order for Jesus Christ to become "my life."

If Christ is "my life" then I must no longer live for myself, but my all, the entirety of "my life" ought to be lived for and by Him (2 Corinthians 5:15).   Yes, I must be dead, "my life hid with Christ."  Where?  "In God."  "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."  (Colossions 3:3)