When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Colossians 3:4 NIV
One of the things that happened to me when I came to faith in the Lord Jesus is that I died and was born anew. While I am still in my old body and living in this world, there is a new reality. I am in Christ. And where he is, I am also. Christ is now seated at the right hand of God, and I am there with him (Col. 3:1-3). That is a reality I have difficulty visualizing, but that doesn’t make it untrue.
Jesus is returning someday. Returning in glory. And, Paul says, I will be returning with him. Returning in glory. That is also hard for me to wrap my head around. But it is something I look forward to.
That unseen reality and glorious future should have an impact on the way that I live now. Because of it, I am told to put whatever belongs to my earthly nature to death. Following that is a long list of the things that have no place in the life of one who has died and been reborn to a new life.
Conforming to the Image of Christ
This is really a matter of bringing my life on this earth into conformity with my position in Christ. The more I set my heart and mind on things above, where I am hidden with Christ, the less appeal the things of this world will have for me. And the easier it will be to let them go, conforming instead to the image of Christ in me.
This is not given to us as something optional, something that would be good to do. Instead, it is something we are told to do. We are expected to die to our old way of life and conform to the image of Christ. That is what discipleship is all about.
