The mystery is this!

Within Paul's letter to the Colossians, there's a magnificent description of who Jesus is. (Col. 1:15-20).

Jesus is described in the following ways:

. the visible image of the invisible God (vs. 15)

. existing before anything was created (vs. 15)

. creating everything through God (vs. 16)

. holding all things together (vs. 17)

. head of the church (vs. 18)

. reconciling us to God (vs. 20)

. making peace with everything in heaven and on earth (vs. 20)

As if this wasn't powerful enough, there's a little gem tucked a bit further down the letter. Paul mentions a "secret." He goes on to share what it is;

"For God wanted them (us) to know that the riches and glory of Christ is for you Gentiles too. And this is the secret; Christ lives in you." (vs. 27 NLT)

The NKJ version says it this way:

"To them (us) God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Wow.

Spiritually speaking, we have Victoria Falls flowing in us.

God's Son somehow dwells in us.

It's pretty straight forward and very powerful. In fact, it's potentially one of the most explosive scriptures in the Bible.

So, if it's true, why don't more people, especially believers, live like it? (Remember that Paul was writing this letter to people who professed belief in God and God's Son.)

1. We really don't believe it.

This is perhaps the most obvious. Even those who attend church on a regular basis may go out of habit and not because of relationship. 

2. We really don't understand it.

Not so obvious. It's sort of like looking at the universe of US citizens. I would wager that most of us don't have a basic understanding of the Bill of Rights. Even to the point of being able to answer: "What is the Bill of Rights?"

Similarly so, many of us who call ourselves Christian have no idea of the full scope of who Jesus is (according to Paul's description above). So our view of God's Son would be quite limited.

3. We can't grab hold of the significance of it.

This is a little different that understanding. It's sort of like knowing that there's such a thing as gravity, but not having a clue as to its significance. (In case you're wondering, gravity is a big thing. God uses it to keep the entire universe in place, for openers).

4. We don't spend time meditating on it.

This is huge!

We can't truly understand the significance of God's Son unless we think about God.

Many of us are quick to dismiss a not-so-well-thought-out concept of God and God's Son. 

I'm the first to admit that I haven't spent a ton of time meditating on the description of God's Son written in Colossians. But if I were to dismiss God's Son without at least spending time meditating on those verses I'd be spiritually short-changing myself.

5. So, the secret that Paul writes about remains a secret!

We can fail to grab hold of the very essence of the gospel and the Bible. 

Is it any wonder that US church attendance is shrinking? Why would you bother to spend an hour on Sunday with someone that you don't know very well?

In this kind of a situation, our focus can easily be taken off God and God's Son. We become centered on ourselves and become bored, confused and tired of encountering an extremely watered down, ineffective version of a very powerful God.

Or we can invent our own story, substituting who we think God is for who God may actually be.

Either way, we're not living aware of the spiritual reality of God's Son living inside us.

But what if it's true that God's Son is as magnificent as those verses in Colossians say God is?

What if the secret to a successful life is captured with the secret that Paul describes?

And what if we really do have direct access to the awesome Creator of the Universe each day?!

What then?