Colossians 1:27, 2:6 Christ In Us, Us in Christ

Colossians 1:27- God wanted to make the glorious riches of this secret plan known among the Gentiles, which is Christ living in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 2:6- So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way you received him.

Intro
These are some of the most important verses in the Bible. A lot of ink (or data) can and has been spilled to understand these verses. I’m not going to try to explain exactly what each means and how it relates to the gospel and systematic theology. At least not today.
Instead, I want to use these two verses to give an idea of how we should think about our lives throughout each day.

Our Power
First, Christ in us. Paul calls it a “mystery” which is translated here as “secret plan.” That’s because a mystery in Greek is not a problem to be solved like Sherlock, it’s a truth that has to be revealed. You can’t learn it without God telling you—in this case, through Scripture.

Jews were waiting for the presence of God to return to the temple. The secret plan revealed here is that the presence returned in Jesus and now lives in us.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist the background details.

What I want you to take away from this today is that you can be transformed into the person God called you to be because God lives in you and is doing the work.

So spend a few moments today and every day recognizing the power living in you and calling on Jesus to guide you through the day—loving your neighbor and focusing on what’s important.

Future Glory
This verse also means that the presence of the Spirit in you is the down payment that you have a place in heaven, in the final kingdom, when God’s realm takes over Earth’s realm. You have the assurance of your salvation.

It’s Not About You
But I also included this second verse because it presents a paradox, a seeming contradiction. The second verse says that rather than focusing on Christ in us, we should live in Christ.
I like this because if we focus only one what God is doing in us, we might think the story is just about us. However, we are called into God’s story. We play a small role in a drama that began before we were born and will continue after we die.

Keep this focus so that you’re more worried about what God wants to do in the world instead of your smaller concerns. It also means that if you don’t finish something, God can raise up others to do finish it. You’re not alone. Everything doesn’t depend on you, and we’re not the focus of the universe.

Conclusion
So let the Spirit of God transform you in your day to day life to carry out the mission that’s a part of a story much bigger than us.