By Hal Green
Pondering Prayer
One of the misunderstandings shared by many Christians today is that the benefits of Jesus Christ are meant to be received right now, today. This includes health and monetary well-being for our loved ones and us. We want the payoffs for faith in this life. While there are definitely good things to be ours now, due to our faith in Christ, they constitute only a down payment on the wondrous relationship yet to be ours. The “principal” is Christ, together with our impending union with him. This will be fully ours only after this life.
This reality is all the more difficult for us today, since we do not readily accept or easily withstand “delayed gratification.” Paul corrects our narrow vision in these dramatic terms:
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4).
What an extraordinary thing to say: “your life is hidden with Christ in God.” This sounds as if our life is hidden right now, with Christ, in God. Paul continues: “When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.”
These present tense verbs are amazing. They indicate that some things have already transpired, even if you are unable to witness or take these things in. This is like a “good news-bad news” scenario, when someone tells you that the Christmas gifts have been placed under the tree in your living room but you cannot open them until Christmas.
The problem with waiting for these gifts of eternal life is that you have no calendar, therefore no way of knowing how long it will be until that day arrives or when you will pass over to the other side. This is not something you want to celebrate, at least not since the invention of pain medications, rendering this life much more bearable, if not blessed.
The substance of the Gospel focuses not only on this life but also on eternal life. Paul told the Church at Corinth, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19). He also said, “Beloved . . . this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
As you pray this Scripture, imagine what your eternal life now hidden with Christ in God will be like. Through prayer, you can begin to cross over into that life even now. Silently and softly, let a bright, warm, and safe cloud enter you as you enter it.
(Hal Green, Ph.D., is author of “Pray This Way to Connect with God.” You can contact him at drhalgreen@gmail.com.)
