An Embedded Life
Learning to live the new life God gives us
This is the last of a series of posts addressing foundational truths essential to living the Christian faith. [See below for previous posts]
Journalists embedded with combat troops made the Vietnam conflict the first televised war. Network news brought the war into American living rooms every evening. It was an undeclared war that brought continuing protests on college campuses, at military induction centers, and at government monuments for over a decade. I remember it well.
Televising this “conflict” fought on the other side of the world created a tug-of-war for the American psyche. The embedded journalists revealed the realities of the daily struggle of war, as thousands of young soldiers died in an undeclared war that divided a nation. I had friends who died and others who survived this combat.
It was not a bright spot in American history, but it brought about a more honest view of combat and politics that lingers today.
A misguided approach
When I was a young man lost in the turmoil of the late '60’s, I was approached by two clean-cut college students witnessing for Jesus as I lazed at the beach on a sunny Southern California summer day.
I was morally and spiritually lost, and when they approached me, I was under the influence of a mind-altering drug. I had bought into the “turn on, tune in, drop out” philosophy of the day.
These well-intentioned students tried to entice me into the Christian faith with the promise, “You can be a Christian and still have a sports car!” I didn’t want a sports car. I wanted the truth. They meant well, but I wasn’t interested in the brand of Christianity they presented to me.
Years later, I began reading the Bible every morning, although I didn’t understand what I read. But as I kept reading the Bible, God spoke the truth to my heart by His Spirit about the path of life I was on (see Matthew 7:13-14).
Thankfully, I trusted in Jesus after understanding the truth of God’s Word and experiencing the wooing of God’s Spirit. [Here’s a link to that part of my life story—The Way that Leads to Life]
Reality hits
After choosing to follow Jesus, I had to face the reality of what that meant for my daily life.
I realized it was much more of a continuing struggle than some evangelists made it out to be. “Just come to Jesus; He’s the answer to life’s problems,” and similar declarations were common to hear.
What they said may be true in part, but they didn’t disclose what the Christian life was like day to day. Jesus is the answer we seek because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). But He calls us to deny and die to ourselves as we follow Him (see Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23).
No one’s life turns on a dime without experiencing some consequences. If you win the lottery, you will need to pay a lot of taxes. When you get a new job, you have to work. After the wedding, two single people need to learn how to live as one (see Genesis 2:24-25).
Commitment and conflicts
The Christian life, a personal trust in Jesus, is likened to marriage (see 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 21:2, 9). Marriage requires a continued commitment to navigate all the many changes and phases of life in a relationship.
When I did premarital counseling for couples who had lived together before their wedding, I warned them that the commitment of their lives through exchanging vows would change things. Most doubted this until after the wedding, then reality smacked them in the face.
A commitment to follow Jesus is no different. Life is not static, but dynamic. Just as conflicts occur when two people’s lives begin to merge in a marriage, Christian believers also experience conflict.
Our conflict as believers is not the merging of two lives but the separation of two natures—the old and the new, as pointed out in last week’s post. How do we navigate these challenges? Biblical truths need to become realities embedded in our daily living.
3 things to embed in our lives
I see three things in Colossians 3:15-17 that enable us as believers to follow Jesus in a continuous commitment to Him. These three truths need to be embedded into daily life if you want to win the war between the old and new selves (see Romans 7:21-25 NIV; Galatians 5:17).
1- The peace of Christ
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:15)
Here’s where the battle is won first, in our hearts. The deepest part of who we are—our inner spiritual nature. Our inner nature is made new and alive by God’s Spirit filling and dwelling in us. This is what Jesus spoke to Nicodemus when He spoke of the need for new birth (see John 3:3-8).
God gives us His peace to rule in our hearts in our everyday interactions with others (see John 14:27; 16:33), especially with those who also follow Jesus—His church.
When we choose to “let the peace of Christ” rule in our hearts, His peace displaces our doubts, fears, anxieties, and whatever else may trouble us. We “let” the peace of God rule in our hearts when we surrender them to the Lord.
2- The Word of Christ
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)
This is the battlefield where the conflict between our old and new natures is most obvious and intense. When God’s peace rules in our hearts, then our minds can better sort through and discern conflicting thoughts.
It’s also why our minds need to be renewed by the truth of God (see Romans 12:2), and the image of our Creator (see Colossians 3:10). We need the fresh water of God’s Word washing through our thoughts regularly, which is one of the purposes of reading the Bible daily (see Ephesians 5:26; John 15:3; 17:7).
3- The life of Christ embedded in us
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17)
What we say and do reflects how we are handling the conflict of the old and new natures going on inside us each day. Paul speaks of this conflict in Galatians, similarly as he addressed it in Romans 7.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. (Galatians 5:17)
This conflict within us cannot be wished away or ignored. Some days are bound to be better than others, and vice versa. It’s not so much about controlling our mouths and behavior, but letting the new life we have in our relationship with Jesus shine through us to others.
Again, Paul expresses it this way in Galatians—
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16, 25) [see Galatians 5:19-25]
A final thought or two
Two things stand out to me in these three verses. First, each exhortation addresses one of the three parts of our being—the heart (inner spiritual nature), the mind (thought life), and the body (our active presence).
Second, notice that each exhortation includes some form of thankfulness. Thankfulness in our hearts, minds, and actions (word or deed) centered on and reflecting Jesus. Giving thanks to the Lord, even in mundane things, helps lift our attention from ourselves to the Lord.
When we walk in assurance of God’s peace, His truth, and His presence with thankfulness in all that we are and do, we can become overcomers in the struggle between our old and new natures (see Romans 8:37-39; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
The Lord will empower and enable us to win this conflict within us as we follow our Lord Jesus each and every day.
May you know God’s peace, truth, and presence in all you say and do.
I greatly appreciate the honest appraisal here, Trip. I'm no upstanding pillar of moral virtue or anything, but talk of faith as such a sure thing in which belief grants access to all the answers gives me a lot of skepticism. Our world is far less aligned with Christianity than ever before. Living a Christian life is, culturally, a very weird thing to do. It creates a ton of friction. Not soberly addressing that friction might be a bit naïve, I think.