Col 1:27-29

If Jesus lives in you, and you go to the gym … should the weights be heavy or light?

Sounds like a silly question, but in fact, it plays into a deep idea … should the Christian life be easy, hard, or impossible?

“To them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Col 1:27

The fact that it takes Jesus in you to live the Christian life tells us that the Christian life isn’t just difficult … it's impossible - if you're trying on your own that is. But if we’re truly abiding in Jesus, why is life still hard?

Thankfully the Spirit of God inspired Paul to address this for us!

In Colossians, Paul talks about the mystery of the Gospel - that Christ lives in you. What a phenomenal revelation. That doesn’t mean, however, that we aren’t engaged in our day-to-day life.

Paul goes on to explain what the Christian life looks like in verse 29.

“To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.”

Col 1:29

Here we see how the life of Jesus interconnects with the life of the ‘practicalities’. Even with the life of Jesus living within you, you will still have to face challenging situations, but that doesn’t mean that we have to face these alone! We have the power of Christ working through us in those very real circumstances.

2 Peter 1:4 even tells us that we are to “participate in the divine nature”. What does it mean to participate in the divine nature? It means that we live our lives in such a way that the power of Christ is made manifest in the very practical areas of our lives - the secular is sanctified by the sacred.

So are the weights heavy?

Well yes. Sometimes the weight of life is incredibly heavy, however, we don’t have to carry that in our own strength. We have Jesus, a power source, that animates us and enables us to do what would have been impossible in our own strength.

Prayer

Lord, there are very real things in my life that I am struggling to carry. May you be my strength, so that I can not only survive but delight in your presence, right here within the struggle. Please be my peace and life today.

Amen