Most folks seem to enjoy a good "thriller," be it book or movie. A favorite
theme in these is when the main character goes into "deep cover" in order to
infiltrate and subvert a crime or spy organization from within. Always, they
are given a "cover story," something that creates knowledge about the character,
knowledge that is almost always false. The other day, a good friend shared some
great insights on just how this applies to the lives of those who are His. I
thought I'd pass on some of those insights, as well as some the Lord has shown
me since then.
If we're honest, most of us only know each other through
our "cover stories." We have surface knowledge of each other. We know each
others favorite teams, foods, TV shows and movies. We know a lot about each
other, but very little of each other. Is it any wonder then that the same is
true of our knowledge and relationship with Christ? We rarely get beyond the
surface with Him. We rarely enter into the place, the secret place as His Word
calls it, of truly knowing Him. We know lots about, but little of. We're
satisfied to know one another's cover story, and in a way, Christ's, but that's
where it ends. There is a "deep cover" in each of our lives, but few of us ever
discover it, even as concerns ourselves. As a result, like some of the
characters, we've been in deep cover so long, we can no longer distinguish
between our cover story, and who we really are, and who He really is. In the
Word, John tells us that we shall behold Him, that we shall see Him, Christ,
"just as He is." Many think this is a future promise, but I believe that the
fullness of His Word tells us that this beholding of Him can begin now. That we
can begin to see Him, the fullness of Him, now. But we must desire to get
beyond the cover story. In Exodus, it's written that Moses "entered into the
deep darkness, where God was." The Father has no desire to remain under "deep
cover" in His relationship with us. He longs to be known, but this knowing is a
journey of discovery, and at times, it will require entering into the unknown,
but in that unknown, we will come to know Him more.
There's another
element in all of this that my friend shared. It's the role of the believer
living in "deep cover" in the midst of broken, lost culture.
In His Word
we're told to be "in the world, but not of it." How do we truly live that out?
First off, those who continue to live only on the surface, the cover story,
can't live it out. We can "do church" even engage in good works, but if the
lives involved are not living deeply in Him, the results will not be lasting.
It is, and will be, lives lived out in the resurrection power of Christ, that
will "turn the world upside down." This is what Paul and a few followers were
accused of in the book of Acts. The were able to do so because they lived so
deeply in Him, deep cover in Him, that the power of His life through them, shook
the world. They "subverted" their culture, not nearly so much by what they did,
but by who they were in Him, and who He was through them. We who are His are
called to the same, and nothing less. To do so, we must go beyond the "cover
story" we've been living and have been content to have as the filter in knowing
others, and knowing Him. From the place of our deep cover in Him, we live lives
of Holy Spirit power, lives that can and will, turn the world upside down. To
such a life we're called, but we must drop our cover story. Will
we?
Blessings,
Pastor O
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