Get Your Life Back: Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad by John EldredgeSýnishorn

5. Hidden Life of God in You

Welcome back, friends, to session five. Before we jump into our pause, I want to set up something new—what is maybe my favorite use of the pause. And to get there, let's go back to that wonderful passage in John 17 where Jesus is praying for us:

"I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you've sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them and you in me."

I absolutely love that passage. Much to my surprise, I came to realize it’s not just about church unity or getting along with one another—though it will result in that. This passage is actually about our hidden life in God, our union with God. Jesus is praying for us right before He leaves and passes on the gospel mission of bringing His love to the world through us. We’re going to need a very special kind of power, strength, wisdom, and life in order to carry out that mission. And so, here’s what He prays: that the same kind of union He experiences with the Father, we would experience with Jesus and the Father, right? "Just as we are one," He said, "I want them to be one with us."

Yes, the fruit of that will be love, graciousness, and patience, and we will have church unity. But the goal is not just unity with each other; the primary purpose is unity with God. That’s where we have to begin.

Think of the forest and how there’s this hidden life underneath the soil, nourishing the trees and providing them with all they need. Eventually, you reach a place where you’re like, "How do we live in this crazy world? It’s exhausting." Most of us get home most evenings exhausted, numb, fried. We need a source of life and strength, filling our inmost being regularly. The good news is Jesus is praying for that very thing for us and telling us that the goal of human existence is a united life with God.

This is very different than what most people who have spent any time in church or Sunday school were led to believe. There's kind of this model of faith, obedience, and service. The typical Christian life goes like this: it starts with an encounter with God, an encounter with Jesus Christ. Maybe as a child, you went to summer camp or Sunday school. Maybe you went to a Billy Graham rally as an adult. Someone shares the gospel—the wonderful news that Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, died on a cross to cancel and cover all of your sins. The slate is completely wiped clean so that you can be restored into your loving Father's arms and begin a whole new life in Him.

We open our hearts to Christ and ask Him to come and live within us, and it is a wonderful time of life. Whether you’re 8 or 88, it’s an exciting season. I came to Christ when I was 19, in 1979, and oh, how thrilling it was to finally come home, to discover the love of God, to be forgiven, and to have faith in Christ. It’s a wonderful beginning. But of course, it's only a beginning, right? The cross and salvation are merely the doorway into an entire life.

As we mature in faith, the next step is toward obedience. We want to love and honor this God who loved and saved us, so we begin to clean up our act. Some friendships and recreational choices change. We pursue a life of honor, obedience, and holiness. This is absolutely crucial, by the way. Human beings can't become what we were made to be without this life of obedience because it brings us into alignment with God’s purposes. And as we align with God’s purposes, we get to become what we were made to be.

Shortly after comes the stage of participation. You might be recruited or hear an inspiring message, and suddenly, you move from being a receiver in the church to a participant. You become a giver, maybe serve in the kitchen, help the homeless, or fight human trafficking. We have faith, we obey, and then we join the cause.

Sadly, most believers have been given the impression that that’s it—the sum total of the Christian life. As a Christian counselor, I’ve spoken to many dear people over the years who report that they don’t have an intimate relationship with God. They don’t hear Him personally on a regular basis, and the whole category of the restoration of their soul and the healing of their humanity is not something they’ve been offered or taught how to pursue. So, it's crippling to cut off the Christian life at the level of service.

Thank Jesus, He doesn’t let us stop there. In John 15, Jesus says, "I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I’ve called you friends, for everything that I’ve learned from the Father, I have made known to you." Jesus actually invites us into something far more thrilling, beautiful, and intimate than a life of Christian service. Yes, service, absolutely, and yes, obedience, but He says, "You are my friends." And if we move into that experience—oh, what a wonderful time of life that becomes. Jesus is intimately involved in our lives; we hear Him speaking to us, and we receive much more of the gifts He has for us.

We discover that Jesus has a personality and a sense of humor. The intimacy we can experience with God is absolutely wonderful. Yet, two chapters later, Jesus takes it even deeper. In John 17, He prays for a life that is actually united to the life of God.

Human beings are famously dependent creatures. You need sleep every day; you need to eat; you need water and oxygen. Everything about our existence models how dependent we are on another source for life. What this is meant to guide us into is something wonderful: your being—heart, soul, mind, strength, body, and spirit—is actually meant to live in a united existence with God. One heart with Him, one mind, literally one life.

Jesus used the example of vine and branches, saying, "You’re meant to be connected to me," and out of that connection flows all the energy, power, healing, and grace we need for life in this mad world.

So try this: push your palms together in a posture of prayer representing intimacy with God. This is John 15: you’re close, really close, and it’s wonderful. Now, intertwine your fingers, symbolizing a union of being. That’s what we’re headed toward; that’s what Jesus is praying for us in John 17.

And this is what I most use the pause for. Yes, I use it to release, to drink in beauty, to attend to unattended places, but this is the primary need—because the life we’re living in this mad world continually assaults our union with God. The chaos, distraction, disappointment, and loss continually assault it. So I most often use the pause to simply pray, "Oh Jesus, heal my union with You."

Let’s practice that pause now, and I’ll pray with you:

Jesus, I give everyone and everything to You. Just take a few moments here and release. Jesus, I pray You would restore my union with You. I present myself to You for a union: one heart, one mind, one life. Heal my union with You. Just linger there. Heal my union with You.

I think you’re going to love this use of the pause. It’s so life-giving. It brings us back to that united existence with God, where all His resources can flow into ours again, super refreshing and really helpful.

One little tip that’s going to help you get there begins with a story about a text from a friend that started as a startling intrusion into my day and ended up being the most life-giving thing. It was a picture taken from a bush plane at about 17,000 feet, showing a vast view of a valley. My friend wrote, "60,000 caribou lined up for a river crossing." Because he knew it would thrill my heart, he sent it to me. And it did. I love the wilderness, massive animal migrations, and caribou. Here, in my chaotic, media-filled, frenzied day, came an intrusion of the heart of God.

Looking at that picture, I was reminded of the God I love—how kind, good, generous, beautiful, and powerful He is. That’s the intimacy. God knows you well, knows what makes you come alive, and will drop reminders into your day—a song, a picture, a memory—to remind you of the God you love. It’s a practice of loving God. In those moments, stop and say, "I love You. You are amazing. This is who You are."

And here’s the secret: as you practice loving God, it opens your soul back up to union with Him. Just the simple act, in your car, on the train, or wherever—"I love You, God. I love You, Jesus"—heals and restores, bringing you back to the unity we long for with Him.

There’s lots more in the book and in your study guide on this chapter. I encourage you to practice the pause this week for the healing of your union with Jesus.

And we’ll see you next time.