Col.1:25-27 -NLT – God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

Sometimes it seems to me that we have made the most valuable and precious treasure of all, Christ living inside of us, cheap and insignificant by our emphasizing “just pray this prayer” and then being okay with living basically the way you always have. Christ living inside of us can never be fully grasped in our current condition but the Holy Spirit gives a taste of it every time we come into His presence. You see “praying the prayer” is not simply a ticket to get into heaven it is an entrance into the kingdom of God. Christ comes into our lives, we turn away from the sinful lives we all once lived, and we enter into a whole new life. This gives us a whole new view of life, now we find pleasure in knowing the Lord and walking with Him. We taste the edge of the amazing kingdom which will be on full display when Christ returns. Here is how the NLT Study Bible describes this passage.

“Through the OT prophets, God foretold many elements of the Good News, but he kept some aspects of it hidden until he revealed them in the NT era. These include the full participation of Gentiles as fellow-heirs with Jews; the indwelling of Christ in believers; and the union of Christ and the church, as illustrated by the union of husband and wife. But some elements of God’s plan are still hidden and await further revelation, such as the salvation of all Israel and the transfiguration of Christians at the time of Christ’s return.”

This revelation of the mystery of God, specifically that Gentiles would have Christ in them, began to come to Paul when he fell to the ground on the Road to Damascus (Acts 22:17). The calling of God on Paul’s life to the Gentiles was confirmed three days later when the Lord gave Ananias a word to deliver to Paul about his calling to the Gentiles. So that is Paul’s secret message: people of all nations, genders, and age groups can receive this incredible treasure, Christ actually coming to live inside of us all.