So, I think that, for the most part, we allow our experience to define our reality. Kind of makes sense . . . at least in the physical world. But when it comes to the faith, I’m thinking it’s more about allowing our reality to shape our experience. There are things to know and understand and believe that, when we start to grasp them, can profoundly shape the way we look at the world and how we determine to do life. I came across one of those profound realities in Colossians this morning . . . great doctrine . . . high and holy theology . . . the stuff of which reality is defined. If I’m picking it up correctly, in Christ I am completely complete.

“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians 2:9-10)

“Beware,” says Paul, “lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” (2:8) After a chapter and seven verses of teaching on the Person and Preeminence of Christ . . . of teaching on the reconciliation made through His sacrifice on the cross . . . Paul says, “Watch out! Don’t let the world define your reality. Your reality is in Christ. Your reality is Christ in you.”

And here’s reality . . . Christ fully, or completely, embodies deity. Think God . . . Think Christ. Think Christ . . . Think God. He defines deity and deity defines Him. Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of God’s nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3a ESV). When asked by His disciples to show them God, Jesus responded, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). So, Paul says, in Jesus you find the fullness of deity . . . He is completely God . . . and, the implication for those who believe in Him is reality altering.

I am complete in Him. I have been given fullness in Him (NIV). I have been filled in Him (ESV). It’s the same word, only in the verb form, used to describe the fullness, or completeness, of the deity dwelling in Christ. I am full with His fullness . . . I am complete in His completeness. That’s my reality. Oh, I know that so often my experience has me believing that I am anything but full . . . in fact, way too often, my experience tells me I’m runnin’ on empty. Not true. I am complete in Him . . . 24/7 . . . when I’m feelin’ it and when I’m not feelin’ it . . . that’s my reality . . . completely complete.

And mine, I think, is to chew on it for a bit . . . mix it with faith . . . apply it liberally on my day . . . and let it define my experience. The fullness of deity, in Christ, should define me. Through the indwelling Spirit I can interact with the mind and the power of the risen Son of God. Because of the Word living in me, with some time and practice, I learn to discern the “reality” offered by the world as being, at best, a vapor of pleasure . . . more likely, it is a trap of vanity and bondage. I am a new creation in Christ (2Cor. 5:17) . . . given all the tools I need to be a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2Peter 1:4). In Christ, I am completely complete.

It’s not about psyching myself up . . . it’s not about thinking myself into success . . . it’s about believing the word of God. It’s about resting in the truth of all that is encompassed within my salvation. It’s about asking the Lord to let this reality shape my experience . . . about walking in a way that is consistent with being “in Christ” . . . about asking God, by His grace and through His indwelling Spirit, to help me experience life in the context of this reality . . . about being completely complete . . . for His glory . . . amen.

Complete in Thee! no work of mine, May take, dear Lord, the place of Thine; Thy blood hath pardon bought for me, And I am now complete in Thee.
Complete in Thee! no more shall sin, Thy grace hath conquered, reign within; Thy voice shall bid the tempter flee, And I shall stand compete in Thee.
Complete in Thee — each want supplied, And no good thing to me denied; Since Thou my portion, Lord, wilt be, I ask no more, complete in Thee.
Dear Savior! when before Thy bar, All tribes and tongues assembled are, Among Thy chosen will I be, At Thy right hand, complete in Thee.
— Aaron R. Wolfe, 1821-1902