“Part of resting in the reality that your true self is hidden with Christ in God is looking at the true self you keep hiding inside yourself.”- Jared C. Wilson
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. . . . For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”- Colossians 3:1,3
“Now, by the help of God, I shall become myself.”- Soren Kierkegaard
In Chapter 8 of The Imperfect Disciple, Jared Wilson revisits Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s concept of the wish dream. However, the Bible calls the wish dream by another name – idolatry. Pastor Wilson explains the danger to your true self:
“And the thing about idolatry, the thing about wish dreams, is that we so identify with them we lose all true bearings about ourselves. Often, we don’t know who we are apart from them.”
Yet, Jared asserts, you’re in a good predicament when you find yourself constantly measuring, frustrated, and seeing all you lack. Because that places you on the verge of a shattered wish dream. Hence, you finally face reality. Therefore, placing joy anywhere but Christ sets you up for incredible, crushing disappointment. In addition, you’re vulnerable to spiritual and emotional disaster. Pastor Wilson adds:
“We all have a vision for how life is supposed to go, what life is supposed to be like — what we want and how we want it, and the way we want to feel about it — but then actual life happens, and when our heart is tuned to only find joy in the dream we will never find joy, because we’ve placed it in a mirage.”
In conclusion, Pastor Wilson offers this litmus test question to diagnose idolatry. The litmus test: “What, if taken away from you, would cause you a great crisis of identity?”
Today’s question: How do you rest in the reality that your true self’s hidden with Christ in God? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “God doesn’t need any more messiahs”
