Seek those things which are above … your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:1,3 KJV).
We’ve all played the game. Perhaps our minds go back to our childhood or our early parenting years. The countdown ends and the seeking begins for those who are hiding. With no equipment or expense required, hide and seek is believed to be one of the oldest games in the world. The earliest attested version of it comes out of Ancient Greece, where a Greek writer named Julius Pollux refers to it in the 2nd century AD.
Writing many decades before that, however, the apostle Paul calls our attention to his version of hide and seek – and his is no game. The situation in Colossae was serious. He was writing to believers who were being encouraged by others to seek a higher plane of spirituality through legalism, mysticism and asceticism. But Paul reminded them that their position could not be any higher. They had already reached the highest plane of all – they had been “risen with Christ” who was seated “on the right hand of God” (3:1). What they needed to “seek” were “those things which are above,” which Paul articulates in verses 12-17. Their tendency (and ours) was to “set [their] affection … on things on the earth” (v2), whether the heresies articulated in chapter 2, the sinful passions described in chapter 3 (vv5-9), or the more general temptation to achieve wealth, fame, power and pleasure. None of these properly belong to the life of one who has been raised with Christ.
Paul adds, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (v3 ESV). At conversion we were linked with the death of Christ (2:20), which severed the connection between us and the world. But we were also linked with the resurrection of Christ and have new life “hidden with Christ in God.” At least two things are suggested by this hiding. First, security. Notice that we are not only “hidden with Christ” but hidden with Christ “in God.” Therefore, our life is doubly secure, and we are linked to One who is in heaven as our forerunner, guaranteeing that we will join Him there (Heb 6:20). Second, secrecy. The source of our spiritual life is presently hidden from this world. This explains why unbelievers fail to grasp our ambitions, attitudes and outlook on life itself. Our connection with God and Christ has not been made fully manifest. But this will not always be the case.
Many hide-and-seek games conclude with someone coming out of hiding after a long period of waiting. The day is coming when God’s countdown will be over, “when Christ, who is our life, shall appear … [and] then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (v4 KJV). Christ’s glory is hidden from earthly view, but a future day will end the present obscurity. He will be revealed in all His glory. Amazingly, so will we! Sinful defilements, which presently mar our reflection of Christ, will be gone forever. We will at last perfectly reflect the glory of our Savior.
With such a blessed hope in view
We would more holy be,
More like our risen, glorious Lord
Whose face we soon shall see.1
1 Robert Boswell
