Hid with Christ in God

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on the things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. ~ Colossians 3:1-3

This verse speaks in faith, describing spiritual truths rather than the physical realities which surround us. I'm not really sitting here next to the space heater, cuddled in my bathrobe. In a spiritual sense, I am positionally already in heaven! I'm with Christ, on the right hand of God. Because this is true, my heart -- my affections -- should be in heaven too. They should be centered around God, his will, his glory, his plans for me. Because my old, natural (that's a nice way to say sinful, selfish, and self-righteous) self died in March 1980, when I asked Jesus to be my Saviour and the Lord of my life. So that now, my life is hid like a chick inside a little blue egg, waiting to burst out in the presence of glory. I don't know what that will be like, except that God's Word tells me that my future self will be like Jesus!

I've been re-reading A.W. Tozer's book, The Attributes of God - Volume I, and it has awakened me once again to the amazing magnificence of our God, Who is beyond expression, way past comprehension, more awesome than we can imagine in our finest dreams. I was reminded that salvation is like a golden key that unlocks the deepest part of man, freeing us to become one with God Himself, "hid with Christ in God". It's a one-way ticket to a never-ending journey, beyond the reaches of the known universe, past the gates of time, to dwell within a Person so majestic and mighty that He cannot be quantified.

Many people reject Christianity because they don't realize Whom they are rejecting. They think being a Christian is just a bunch of rules to follow, a mandate to sacrifice pleasure. But God invented pleasure. The Bible teaches that all good and perfect gifts come from God; however, the best gift God gave us was Himself, and this is what Tozer's book is all about -- teaching us to know and to appreciate the wonderful heart of our Lord.

Tozer points out that God takes pleasure in his work. He states, "Somebody is having a good time in heaven and earth and sea and sky... making trees to grow... ice to melt...fish to swim... birds to sing and lay their blue eggs and build their nests and hatch their young. Somebody's running the universe." God's work is not filled with regret, sadness, or frustration. The Bible speaks of God's joyfulness. "The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17).

The next happy thought in this first chapter is Tozer's comparison of God with the moon. In its rotations, the moon has a side that remains visible to the Earth, as well as a side that was completely unknown until the recent development of space travel. Our God is infinite, so there is much we don't know about Him. He too has a mysterious side. Yet, like the moon, He has a "manward side". Jesus is His "manward side", and through Him we see the Father. And When God looks down at us, He views his children as spotless, hidden in the righteousness of Christ.

My Refuge

- Sonicflood, from the album Cry Holy

Lord, You never change, You stay the same,
You are my hope of glory,
I will never have to be afraid.
Through the course of time, And all my life,
You've been my place of shelter,
Here, beneath Your love I will remain.

I will sing that You are my refuge
In You alone I place my trust
Here in the shadow of Your wings,
You are my refuge
The Maker of the stars above,
Still You make Your home inside of me.
And You shelter me.

You are Lord of all, my mind recalls
The times that You've been faithful,
Now I know Your love is here to stay.
Through the course of time, And all my life,
You've been my place of shelter,
Here, beneath Your love I will remain.

I will sing that You are my refuge
In You alone I place my trust
Here in the shadow of Your wings,
You are my refuge
The Maker of the stars above,
Still You make Your home inside of me.
And You shelter me.
You shelter me.
You shelter me.