Christ Is All

Colossians 3:5-11

What will you cling to on your death bed? The pride of good works? The record of church attendance? The number of people you witnessed to? I think, in studying the Bible, that when it comes right down to it we, people of faith--in Christ alone--can only cling to Christ alone. I think, the hope of glory rests on our testimony of "Christ is all."

All of us, so Paul says, were bent on sin--sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness--prior to Christ. Those things are what our "old nature" consisted of. Those things are deep seated in the darkness of fallen hearts and all of us became guilty of such selfish sinfulness at birth. "But now," Paul writes, "you must put them all away..."

So, we make our lists.

1. No pre-marital sex.
2. No consumption of alcohol.
3. No cheating on taxes.

But what about our hearts? We can uphold these three rules and still be guilty before God because of the lust, desire, and discontent in our hearts. At least, that's what Jesus taught us. And so, along with putting on the new self, Paul continues, is a constant "renewal in knowledge after the image of its creator." Christ wants our hearts--not our ability to keep external rules/religiosity.

I referred, perhaps distastefully, to Ted Haggard in the previous post. In one of the articles I read he spoke of this part of his life "that is so repulsive and dark" that he's been "warring against it" all his adult life. That's right. That's right for all of us in some way, is it not? If we are all, in Christ, being constantly in a state of renewal after the image of our creator, it should be that we are all warring against our old nature.

Here's the thing. I don't know if it's fair to put this on Haggard, but I will--along with all of us. If we have reduced our Christian life to the things we do or don't do, we have inevitably missed something, because Christ wants it all. But, in our minds--consciously, subconsciously, unconsciously, whatever--we have become legalistic and we do this: "Alright, I've kept 9 of the 10 rules this week. What a Christian I am!" Something always gets left out. Something Christ died to redeem. Something God wants to renew. But our spirituality is reduced to our own regulations (3:20-23) leaving some "repulsive and dark" part of our hearts out and the little Ted Haggard in all of us still lives. (Not "repulsive and dark" like with Haggard, necessarily; but "repulsive and dark" because it is of the old nature--perfect love, perfect forgiveness, a bit of anger, discontent, impure thoughts, being Christ to our wives, being pastors to our children, being perfect employers and not playing solitaire on the clock, etc.)

But Christ died that you and I might have life. Real life. Abundant life. Kingdom life now. Not a life of internal darkness and repulsivity (I don't think that's a word, but I like it.).

What is the key to faith? What is the key to faith on the death bed? What is the key to the life of faith? What is the key to real, abundant, Kingdom-at-hand, faith? It is to live out, in every crevice of our souls, the declaration "Christ is all."