If I were to pick one verse out of the entire Bible which has encouraged and directed my life more than any other verse, I think it would be Colossians 3:3. “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” There are numerous companion versus such as Romans 6:8. “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” These verses, in fact the entire New Testament, highlight the fact of immediacy, that is, that my life in Christ is in the present, every moment of every day.

It’s no secret that a favorite subject of mine concerns our identity in Christ. True personal freedom comes from dying to ourselves and living the life of Christ in you. From a purely intellectual analysis this does not in any sense. Before I accepted Christ and was born again I was incapable of accepting the truth. And yet at that time I was in turmoil, my life and lifestyle bankrupted, unable to satisfy my soul. In contrast I now have perfect inward peace and joy in spite of the threat and storms around me.

What happened? What’s the difference? Salvation!

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  (Romans 10:9-11)