Daily Manna · Day 68 · March 9
Christ Our Life
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
Think of a seed planted in February, three inches under the soil. For weeks it seems to be doing nothing at all.
All through Scripture, being hidden is a stage in God's work, and it is never the final word. Moses spent forty years with the flock at "the backside of the desert" before he saw the burning bush. David was anointed king and then went back to the sheep, and later he spent years on the run with the oil already on his head. Jesus was about thirty before anyone heard Him preach. Paul went away into Arabia and later home to Tarsus, and for years the record says almost nothing about him. The verse just before today's verse puts the pattern into words: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."
Hid is a word chosen with care. It does not mean lost or forgotten. It means put somewhere safe, by Someone, on purpose. That is what makes today's verse work: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Your appearing is timed to His. The reason nobody can see your life with Him yet is that He has not appeared yet either.
Paul does not let this become comfortable. The very next verse says, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." Mortify means put to death, and concupiscence means strong, wrong desire. Notice the word "therefore." Because your life is hidden with Christ and will one day appear with Him, you put to death the sins that do not belong to that life.
So think again of the seed in February. Nobody is watching it, and there is nothing to see, but the work it is doing underground is real. The same is true of your patience at six in the evening, the bill you quietly paid, and the sin you said no to with the door shut and nobody watching. None of it is wasted. God is keeping it safe, and when Christ appears, your hidden life will appear with Him. Winter does not last forever.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 68 is The Name He Gave (Exodus 3:14).