A New Revelation and Resolution

• All of God's children, I am convinced, feel instinctively in their moments of divine illumination that a life of inward rest and outward victory is their inalienable birthright.

• To state it in brief, I would say that man's part is to trust, and God's part is to work.

• I have tried to settle the question as to the scripturalness of the experience sometimes called the Higher Christian Life but which is the only true Christian life, and which to my own mind is best described in the words, the "life hid with Christ in God."

• We received Him by faith, and by faith alone. Therefore we are to walk in Him by faith, and by faith alone. And the faith by which we enter into this hidden life is just the same as the faith by which we were translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son -- only it lays hold of a different thing. Then we believed that Jesus was our Saviour from the guilt of sin, and according to our faith it was unto us. Now we must believe that He is our Saviour from the power of sin, and according to our faith it shall be unto us. Then we trusted Him for forgiveness, and it became ours. Now we must trust Him for righteousness, and it shall become ours also. Then we took Him as a Saviour in the future from the penalties of our sins. Now we must take Him as a Saviour in the present from the bondage of our sins. Then He was our Redeemer. Now He is to be our Life. Then He lifted us out of the pit. Now He is to seat us in heavenly places with Himself.(Hannah Whithall Smith, The Christian Secret to a Happy Life)

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ. . . . Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.

Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death.

(Colossians 3:1-9a, The Message)

Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!

(Matthew 2:9-10, The Message)

 

---

Beginning Well

The New Year gives us an opportunity to make a new sort of resolution: a life abandoned to God.

But real surrender—real abandonment to Christ—begins with a clear understanding of what such a life actually entails. One of the first things we must understand is that there are not two or more classes of Christians, as though some are merely Christians and others are disciples. There is only one way to be with Jesus: as his disciple. That is his calling. That is the choice placed before us.

We may be very inexperienced disciples, needing much instruction, patience, and reassurance. Or we may become seasoned disciples, living our Christ-life with greater ease and regularity. But we are still disciples. We trust our Lord, and we grow in that trust. We grow as well in his strength and grace. Along the way, we discover that we need him more than we first imagined—more for the journey, not less.

This kind of life is indeed hidden, though it is not completely undetectable.

Eyes that are fixed on sorting—on who is right and who is wrong, on who benefits me more or less—will likely miss the Christ-life at work in another person. They are simply looking in the wrong places. But eyes that seek the goodness and mercy of God may begin to notice something else.

These eyes may notice a loosening of sin’s grip. They may see a growing wholeness, a quiet virtue emerging over time. They may hear words or observe ways of being that remind them, gently but unmistakably, of Jesus. They may even sense a healthy indifference to the panic and frustration that so often govern life—an unexplainable peace and joy taking their place.

Such hints of glory are encouraging. They give hope.

Yes, we can trust. And God will work. Surrender is made of this hidden life with Christ in God.

---

Experience for Epiphany

Take time to notice what a life abandoned to Jesus might look like in your own place—in the ordinary settings and relationships of your days.

You may find it helpful to write a few things down. Choose three or four characteristics that seem to describe such a life as it could be lived by you. Hold these before God over the coming week. Speak with him about them. Listen as well.

Resist the urge to form a quick or heroic resolution. Instead, allow space for a resolution that Christ himself can shape and sustain in you over the coming year—and perhaps longer.

---

Prayer

Lord, this feels like a good time to begin again.
It is also a good time to continue—more thoughtfully—on the journey I am already on.

Guide my thoughts and lift my heart as I seek to abandon my life to you.
I trust that you are gentle and humble at your core.
I trust that you know what is best for me,
and what is best for my place in this world.

I place myself in your care.
Amen.