A Hidden Life
READ
Paul writes something startling to the church at Colossae: "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Past tense. Already accomplished. Not something you're working toward, but something that's already true about you.
You've died. Your life is hidden. This is your reality.
Let’s take a moment to read Colossians 3:1-3:
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
REFLECT
But here's what makes the truth in today’s passage so challenging: it doesn't always feel true. We wake up every morning very much alive to our anxieties, our insecurities, our need to prove ourselves. We're alive to what people think of us, alive to our failures, alive to the constant pressure to perform and measure up. The old patterns feel more real than the new identity.
So we compartmentalize. We believe we're hidden with Christ in God during worship on Sunday, but we live from our insecurities on Monday. We access our spiritual identity during prayer times, but we operate from our old patterns in the workplace. We know the truth theologically, but we haven't learned to live from it practically.
Paul's invitation is to something more integrated: "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." This isn't about being so heavenly minded you're no earthly good. It's about letting your true identity—the one that's already established in Christ—become the orienting center of your entire life.
Think about it this way: if your life is truly hidden with Christ in God, then your value isn't up for debate. Your worth isn't dependent on your performance. Your identity isn't threatened by your failures. You're not trying to become acceptable; you're learning to live from the acceptance you've already received.
This changes everything about how we approach our daily lives.
When you walk into a difficult conversation, you're not walking in as someone who needs to prove themselves right or defend their value. You're walking in as someone whose identity is secure in Christ. When you face criticism at work, you're not devastated because your worth isn't defined by your job performance. When you fail—and you will—you're not destroyed because your identity isn't built on your success.
This is what it means to live as a whole person. You're not dividing yourself into the spiritual you who's hidden with Christ and the practical you who has to survive in the real world. You're bringing your whole self—your true self, your Christ-defined self—into every situation.
But here's where we often get stuck: we try to access this identity through religious performance. We think if we pray enough, serve enough, believe hard enough, then maybe we'll feel secure in Christ. But that's backward. You're not performing your way into this identity. You're already there. You died. Your life is hidden. Now you're learning to set your mind on that reality—to let it sink deeper, to live from it more consistently, to trust it more fully.
The compartmentalized life asks, "What do I need to do to feel acceptable today?" The centered life asks, "Who am I in Christ, and how does that change how I approach today?"
See the difference? One is exhausting, performance-based, never quite enough. The other is restful, identity-based, already established. One fragments you into different versions depending on what's required. The other integrates you around one central truth: you are hidden with Christ in God.
Your everyday, ordinary world becomes holy ground when you bring this identity into it. That meeting at work isn't just a meeting; it's an opportunity to live as someone whose value isn't determined by the outcome. That conflict with your spouse isn't just a conflict; it's a chance to respond from security rather than from defensiveness. That moment of temptation isn't just a moment; it's an invitation to remember who you really are.
Paul isn't asking you to try harder to be spiritual. He's inviting you to set your mind on what's already true. To make yourself available to the reality that your life is hidden with Christ. To stop living from the old, fragmented identity that says you're only as good as your last performance.
This is the integration God desires for you. Not a divided life where you're spiritual in some moments and "regular you" in others, but a whole life where every moment flows from the same truth: you are in Christ, and nothing can change that.
The old you—the one defined by achievement, approval, and performance—has died. Your new life is secure, hidden, unshakeable. The invitation now is to live from that reality in every ordinary moment of your day.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
In what areas of your life do you still operate from your "old identity" (performance-based, approval-seeking) rather than from your true identity in Christ? What triggers that shift?
How can you practically "set your mind on things above" this week? What's one way you could remind yourself of your true identity throughout your day?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
Christ Jesus, help me to live from the truth that my life is hidden in You. When I'm tempted to prove my worth, remind me that my value is already established. When I'm afraid of failure, help me remember that my identity isn't built on success. Teach me to bring my whole self—my true self in You—into every moment of my ordinary day. Let this truth sink deeper until it becomes the center from which everything else flows. Amen.