Hidden Life – April 15, 2020

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:3

Hidden Life

Did you know that R2D2 and C3PO make a brief appearance as hieroglyphs in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”? Or that “Boo”—the little girl from the Disney Pixar movie “Monsters, Inc.” makes an on-screen cameo in another Disney Pixar movie “Toy Story 4”? Or that Alfred Hitchcock made an uncredited appearance in almost all of his movies? These are all examples of what film devotees call “Easter Eggs”—little surprises that are carefully hidden by movie creators in their final product and left for big-time fans to unwittingly stumble upon to their amusement and delight.

The idea of things hidden in plain sight is fascinating. The idea that something kind of fun, interesting, or maybe even awesome could be right in front of your eyes, and you’d never even know it.

The Apostle Paul talks about something “awesome, hidden in plain sight” in Colossians 3:3 when he says, “Your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

Can you see the awesomeness? At baptism, the child of God is covered with Christ. His perfection blankets us, burying our disobedience far beneath it—so that only Jesus’ perfect obedience is visible to God. That’s why Paul can say, “You died.” “You” as a separate entity, isolated and alone before an angry eternal Judge…died. That version of “you” is no longer a thing. You are hidden with Christ. And that is awesome!

But that awesomeness is hidden in plain sight. The children of God are not given sashes to proclaim their status. They look the same as their neighbors. They endure job losses and rejection, infertility and tragedy, illnesses of the body and mind. But although hidden in plain sight, the awesomeness remains.

Paul himself says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8,9).

The devil can do a lot of damage, but he can’t go back and change this fact. Jesus won. Death remains defeated. Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. What a blessing beyond measure to be hidden with him.

Prayer:
Risen Savior, in you I find refuge, in you I find shelter. Comfort me in every season of life with the blessed assurance that I am hidden in you. Amen.