All my hope I place in Him
These are lyrics from one of my favorite Christian songs, "My Soul Finds Rest In God Alone." And I was thinking today: "All my hope I place in Him." Does this mean, "I put my hopes of x, y, and z in Him?" I think more fundamentally, this lyric means to say that my one hope, my only hope, is Him. He is The Hope. When Jesus Christ is hope alone, we do not hope in vain. All reasons to fear, be anxious, and strive cease. We may want x, y, or z, but when those things are hidden in our want of Him, we find actually that "there is nothing [we] shall want."
I've been reading Sit, Walk, Stand by Watchman Nee, and he talks about how when we enter into rest with Christ, we sit with Him and in Him, like a dollar bill between the pages of a magazine. If you burn the magazine, Nee points out, the dollar bill, hidden inside, also goes up in flames. The bill's history becomes that of the magazine's. Isn't this an provocative image? I love it. The image helps us ask these questions: Can we place our desires and other hopes in the magazine? Can we place ourselves in the pages of Christ's story of salvation? How about our sins and weaknesses? Can we let ourselves be hidden in the work of Christ?
In him we have obtained our inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1: 11-2).
In a culture and society that says, "Look at me: look how important and special I am, as an individual, look at me and how different and unique I am," it's no wonder that the phrase and concept of being "hidden in Christ," of being conformed to another's image, is so foreign and maybe even seemingly shallow and easy to grasp rather than complex and challenging. Or maybe just plan distasteful. "Imitation of Christ," or imitation, as opposed to being original, is out-of-style. Our world today privileges things which were once 'secret' but then are exposed. One need only to stand in a grocery store checkout line and scan the covers of tabloids or turn on a t.v. to see the plentitude of secrets, scandals, crazy things, and shocking things which have "finally" been "revealed."
I think that oftentimes, to be "hidden," or maybe just to be normal, aware that one's life is really just one in millions, a blip on the radar, in today's society, is really not cool. We give awards to those who are unique, who do new things, who are original, who are, often, bold for the sake of being bold rather than for the sake of the Gospel. What many do not come to understand is that only those who are confident that they are the center of Christ's attention can allow themselves to be hidden in Him and in the world. Think: St. Therese of Lisieux. Mother Theresa.
This is, finally, what true rest is: trust in Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. So many times I think that rest will come to me in the form of a good cup of coffee, a pedicure, a fancy vacation, a good night's sleep, shopping, and any other number of human, fleshy, really good things. And it always takes me some time to recall that true rest does not result from self-edification but from trust in-Christ, who gives us all these good things, including good coffee!
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