The Mystery of Christ in You

I’ve been doing some reading in Colossians as of late and God is moving and revealing Himself to me in some different ways. I was struck by something in the text.

Col 1:13-19 For He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins. Who is the image of the invisible God, the First-born of all creation. For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the body, the church, who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead, that He may be pre-eminent in all things. For it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell.

Reread this passage and notice how Paul keeps saying “all” in the text. Paul is saying that he is our center, our context, our core, our essence, our beginning and our end. . . our everything. He really doesn’t leave anything out, does he? Life for the Christian is found IN HIM. . .and just a few verses later, Paul states that the mystery of this whole deal is that He is IN US!

Col 1:26-27 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. For to them God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. . .

That is good news! The One who is All In All lives in us! This is why we don’t need more of God, we need less of everything else. Recognizing His working in us, resting in the love he puts in us, cooperating as He is changing us into His image, letting everything we do spring from our union with Him, allowing His power to flow through us, ridding ourselves of those things that diminish Him in our eyes, and embracing those things that magnify Him in our eyes. . .this is the Christian life.

Now I have known that God's Spirit lives in me for a long time. But living in that reality is a totally different story. . . and the journey goes on. . .