Brennan Manning talks about living from the center; living a life that is hidden with Christ in God. I love this idea and to be honest the older I get the more I understand this…I never wanted to hide myself in Christ, hiding meant weakness and weakness was just something that I wasn’t willing to accept in my life - I never wanted to be weak because I didn’t want people to see me that way and I definitely didn’t want God to see me that way.

How silly of me…

The truth is that my understanding of “hiding myself in Christ” takes on a completely different perspective the older I get; though I don’t want to be weak…I am and hiding in Christ is running but taking refuge. The older I get the more I realize that there is so much in the world that is trying to take me out and every turn and I need to a place to go for refuge, rest, and a place to refuel and become my best self. To hide myself in Christ means that I am resting at the center of who God is and what God is doing in my life.

Romans 8:18 is such a great verse that speaks to “living from the center” - we need to live from a place that recognizes that the sufferings of life don’t even compare to the glory that will be revealed in us through Christ.

Let’s break it down…

To consider is to think, determine, judge, or reckon as though from an account perspective. It carries a finality with it…not just to think about but to think on until completion or a fullness happens.

Sufferings refer to a cooler less, evil experience - the suffering destined for the Messiah.

Glory here is defined as the unspoken manifestation of God!

Consider this interpretation of the verse, Paul (who let’s face it…suffered a great deal more than many of us could even consider - though I will say that the purpose isn’t to start comparing suffering but to consider the glory that will be revealed in us through Christ), has judged and determined that the colorless, evil experiences that we all face today (those experiences that equate to the suffering destine for the Messiah) can not even come close to the unspoken manifestation of God that will be revealed in us through Christ.

Here…the way that God is going to show up in us and through us is so much greater than any of our current suffering - it’s not even a fair fight…in fact it’s incomparable!

Listen…we all suffer, we all go through experiences that reveal our weakness, our humanity, our need for rescue. It’s part of the human experience and it’s completely normal…what isn’t normal is how we “reckon” or determine the impact of that suffering on our lives. As children of God we must consider that what we are currently going through, as painful and evil as it feels in the present, isn’t our end state and in fact our end state is so much greater than we can even imagine - it is the unspoken manifestation of God and will be revealed in us as we live from the center.

The question is “when will it be revealed?” … I think the answer is quite simple - it is revealed when we live from the center and live our lives that reflect our belief in this truth.

Personalizing this a bit - when I consider the reality that my current suffering and afflictions are nothing compared to the unspoken manifestation of God that comes from living at the center with Christ…it is then that the glory of God is revealed in me and through me!

That is an amazing truth…that is the way to live life!