Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life with Pastor Dave Cover
Christian Meditation can help refocus your mind and recalibrate your body to get the stress, anxiety and anger out of your heart and out of your body. Spend about 23 minutes to "be still" with God as each episode uses a different biblical image to e...
Recent Episodes
A Christian Meditation on Experiencing Your Whole Being as God’s Will
24:22 | 06-09-2022
Imagine a scene the Bible describes before the very throne of God in…Revelation 4:8-10 (NIV) Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:“‘Holy, holy, holyis the Lord God Almighty,’who was, and is, and is to come.”Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: Then…Revelation 4:11 (NIV)“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”We know from physics that your physical body is composed of atoms arranged differently into molecules to form different kinds of physical realities in your body. Different tissues. Cells. An atom is composed of a nucleus with electrons revolving around it. The nucleus of an atom is 200,000 times smaller than the diameter of the atom. The electrons are many times smaller than the nucleus. In other words an atom consists of millions of times more space than solid matter. Because atoms are in fact mostly empty space, most of your body is empty space. But we see it and feel it as solid. You can’t see the atoms because they are way too small. But they are very real. So if you imagine right now your body comprised of and full of unseen atoms — the DNA and RNA in your cells throughout your body — but there is mostly empty space between the atoms that comprise your body — when you use your imagination to see and feel your body this way, you’re experiencing something that’s very real but unseen. And that’s what you’re doing when you’re using your imagination to experience and feel God in you and always with you.Colossians 1:16-17 (NIV)Acts 17:28Romans 11:36 (NIV)1 Corinthians 8:6 (NIV) Every atom in your body owes its existence and its current presence to the presence of God right now in this moment. You don’t create yourself. You don’t live for your glory. Your will. You exist because it was God‘s will for you to exist in his universe – forever. The forever God wanted to be your God forever. This is why he gave you you’re being. This is why you have your being right now in this moment. The forever God is your God forever! And that reality can put joy and gladness into your whole body right now in this moment.“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, …all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”“In him we live and move and have our being.”This is a tremendous relief. Understanding this kills anxiety. The fight or flight of living for your own glory. Falsely believing your life depends on the perfection of your will. Your power.You can just let go of so much anxiety and fear and insecurity and anger and fight or flight central nervous system living. Rest in God’s lordship. Power. Presence. Will for you. The reason he created you. So take a deep breath. Release your clenched muscles. Let go of the tension. Let your muscles soften. You can trust. You can depend on. Rely on.Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it.Our audio engineer is Diego Huaman.
A Christian Meditation on Imagining God’s Glory in Your Body/Soul
25:53 | 06-07-2022
God gives us the power of imagination to affect the reality of our lives – including the physical reality of our body. This kind of Christian meditation brings the transcendent experience of God into your mind and into your body so that you can replace anxiety, insecurity, stress and tension with the better and truer imagination of God’s infinite and intimate presence and love for YOU.If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that for this podcast.Today we’re going to meditate on…Romans 11:36 (NIV)For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.“For from him and through him and for him are all things.” We recalibrate our lives and our body with reality when we reintegrate how we see ourselves with the truth of this verse.Let’s use our imagination to feel the truth of this verse into our entire body and our soul.“For from him and through him and for him are all things.” And Acts 17:28 says, “In him we live and move and have our being.” Christian meditation uses biblically guided imagination to experience your utter dependence upon God’s life-giving Spirit even at the cellular level. “For from him and through him and for him are all things.”Use your imagination to feel God’s Life-Giving Spirit in your body. This is mysterious, but it’s also real. Imagine the Spirit that gives Life flowing through your veins throughout your whole body. This is the language of the Bible.Every cell in your body is given life from him, through him, and for him. This is reality. This is the realist reality in your life right now in this moment. And you can see this reality by using your biblically guided imagination.Your imagination is powerful enough to greatly affect your body. This is part of the power of our soul - body connection. Hand warmingAs further evidence that your imagination affects bodily processes, it’s actually possible to heat your hands—just using your imagination. I’ve actually done it! (You’d need a stress thermometer.) In the same way your beliefs and feelings and thoughts throughout your day are affecting your body. Perhaps putting unbelief into your body. Worry. Fear. Insecurities. Threats. Your anger fantasies. Your misinterpreted narratives of your relationships with people.But the opposite can be true too. You can put the truth of the forever God being your God forever into your body throughout the day as well.“For from him and through him and for him are all things.” “In him we live and move and have our being.” Use your imagination to feel that truth throughout your entire body. And with each breath out use your imagination to feel God‘s presence inside you giving life to every cell in your body.With your imagination on God‘s presence and in your body, you’re feeling a kind of transcendent sense of quiet. You’re feeling a sense of wonder at the God Who created the universe residing inside your body. Giving life to your body. And because Christ is in you you are one with God right now in this present moment.Romans 11:36 (NIV)For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.You live for God’s glory. And when you do, you glory in God’s glory. His glory becomes your glory forever. Like when we fee the “glory” of our sports teams. But when we focus on our own glory, that’s a dead-end kind of glory. Our lives get smaller. Less glorious. Because most people can see through it and we look ridiculous. When our own glory feels threatened — this is the voice of the false self. A false glory. This is often what brings anxiety. Anger fantasies.
A Christian Meditation on Seeing Your Troubles As Only Momentary
33:28 | 06-02-2022
2 Corinthians 4:16-182 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIVRemember — anxiety, anger happens when we think we need something that we actually don’t need. Lots of people don’t think they struggle with anxiety because they have a stereotypical view of what anxiety is. They don’t feel like they really deal with worry. They don’t fret much. But anxiety is much broader than that. And much more stealthy. Often it hides itself in our body in muscle tension. Elevated heart rate. Distracted mind. Anger fantasies.It usually happens when our old self (false self) gets triggered when it’s threatened, and it blocks our awareness of the security of God’s presence and love and lordship over everything in that moment. Ephesians 4:22–24 ESVIn other words, anxiety is a sign that the insecure and idolatrous false self is demanding we cater to its “needs” instead of putting it off and dying to it like the Bible says. Most of our anxiety and tension and self protective relational dysfunctions are generated by this false self. The false self overshadows us from perceiving God’s presence and receiving God’s love and finding security in his Lordship in this moment. It keeps us stuck in repeated cycles of worry and insecurity and fear and feeling threatened. Our false self will never bring about true freedom in life.So as it relates to this passage…Anxiety happens most when we’re fixing our eyes on our outer self and what is ultimately “wasting away,” and “temporary.” “Light and momentary troubles” in comparison to “an eternal weight of glory.” So much of the Christian life and what it means to live by faith is being able to see unseen realities.So we have to meditate using our imagination before we can live in this reality rather than losing heart in times of trouble — being able to fix our eyes on what is unseen and eternal. Being able to feel the weight of the true glory in our lives.Yes, Paul also means the Genesis 3 realities of our bodies — they are “wasting away” in the thorns and thistles and dust and death of this world before our bodily resurrection and the renewal of all things. But he’s primarily talking about a mindset here. We could say that “outwardly” is the same as “earthly” — thinking with the mind of our old self rather than our new self — looking at life and our circumstances with a mind that ignores the presence and love and lordship of God. Focusing on the outward more than the inward. Priorities that are “wasting away” versus “renewed.” Seeing our troubles as weighty rather than as momentary compared to our eternal weight of glory in the restoration/resurrection. Fixing our eyes on what is just seen on the temporary surface rather than fixing our eyes on the weighty glory of the unseen.So think of your troubles right now. Your anxieties. The things that make you angry. Try to see those things with the mind of your new self instead of your old self.Using your imagination — Fix your eyes — SEE — your troubles as light and temporary inside this promise of God. Your troubles ARE ACHIEVING FOR YOU an eternal weight of glory. See the unseen using your biblically guided imagination. Timestamps:02:49 - 18:44 Body Meditation18:57 - 30:06 Bible Meditation: Corinthians 4:16-1830:18 - 33:11Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it.Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur audio engineer is Diego Huaman.This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.
A Christian Meditation on Seeing Your Body as Completely Washed By Jesus
32:40 | 05-31-2022
The Bible gives us powerful imagery for us to use to shape how we see ourselves, including how we see our bodies. This kind of Christian meditation brings the transcendent experience of God into your mind and into your body so that you can replace anxiety, insecurity, stress and tension with the better and truer imagination of God’s infinite and intimate presence and love for YOU.If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that for this podcast.Body MeditationIn a minute we’re going to meditate on John 13:4-11. But before that, let’s get your body in a good physical and spiritual disposition to meditate, so that you can recalibrate and re-integrate your body and mind with God’s infinite presence and intimate love for you right now in this moment.If you’re able, lie flat on your back, or sit comfortably in a chair. Uncross your legs. And close your eyes, if you can.And when you’re ready, begin by taking in deep breaths through your nose into your belly — intentionally making your belly rise with each breath intake. And then with each exhale, focus on letting all your muscles soften and let go of tension.Say quietly to yourself, “Relax.”Try to bring your mind’s awareness to feeling your entire body (all at once) feeling heavier — feeling your whole body just releasing and letting go of holding yourself up. This feeling is a sensation that you actually can FEEL. Like when your body feels cold — you feel that sensation inside your body. This is like that, although it’s a quieter sensation. You don’t have to do anything. Just focus your mind’s awareness on noticing and feeling this sensation inside your body of feeling your body letting go and dropping limp. Just focus your mind‘s awareness on feeling the sensation of your body relaxing. Feeling your body from within — feeling relaxed more and more.John 13:4–11 NIV This is a narrative that Jesus intended with a LOT of imagery — imagination. So much of what Jesus did had literal actions/events with larger realities to imagine.So imagine this — Jesus cleansing ALL of YOU as he went to the cross. Not just your feet but your hands and your head and every part of you! “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me,” Jesus says to you. “And you are clean.” Washing is an imaginative word. So is clean. New self. New creation. Sin completely removed. Washed away. A new self “raised with Christ” (Col 3:1). Even now. Imagine these images — this reality — into your body…Remember…1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV…You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.The authority of Jesus. The Spirit within your body (1 Cor 6:19).Hebrews 10:19, 22 NIVMeditate on this imagery. Use your imagination to feel this imagery/reality into your body. You’re renewing how your mind sees your body — YOU.Timestamps:01:13 - 21:31 Body Meditation21:38 - 30:06 Bible Meditation: John 13:4-1130:20 - 32:22 PrayerWho can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it.Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur audio engineer is Diego Huaman.This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.
A Christian Meditation on Putting On God’s Love from Colossians 3:13
34:47 | 05-26-2022
God’s love is described in the New Testament as something you imaginatively “clothe yourself” with. This kind of Christian meditation brings the transcendent experience of God into your mind and into your body so that you can replace anxiety, insecurity, stress and tension with the better and truer imagination of God’s infinite and intimate presence and love for YOU.If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that for this podcast.Body mindfulness and awareness helps you embrace your body — recalibrate your body — with the reality of God’s life-giving presence and love. We will first focus on meditation and your body. Connecting your physical body with your spirit. Then we’ll add a meditation on Colossians 3:13 to re-calibrate your body and spirit with God’s presence and love..Colossians 3:12…as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. …14 And over all these virtues put on love…”Steve Cuss (Managing Leadership Anxiety)Anxiety is a signal, not a root cause. Anxiety is generated when we think we need something in any particular moment that we don’t actually need. Anxiety is not just worry and fear. It’s how you react when you don’t get something you think you need.The point is that anxiety becomes a marker that something other than God’s presence and love is at play in my mind and body.So when anxiety strikes (elevated heart rate, muscle tension, mental distraction, anger fantasies), some questions to consider:1) What do I feel I need that’s being threatened?2) Why do I feel that I need it?3) Do I really need it?These questions can help you realize where you’re unconsciously attaching to a want as a “need” and consciously release it by remembering that in Christ you already have everything you need. That you can trust God‘s presence and love and care for you that is far greater than your plan for yourself and your “false self” (old self) that drives your anxieties and fears and insecurities and anger and anger fantasies and stress.Notice what Paul says before this…Colossians 3:9-10 (NIV)…Since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator…Remember Thomas Merton called this old self the “false self.” Remember the old self was crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20).Colossians 3:12…as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. …14 And over all these virtues put on love…”Feel this taking off the old self and putting on the new self and “clothing yourself” inside those parts as intensely as you can. Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it.Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur audio engineer is Diego Huaman.This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.
A Christian Meditation that God Controls All the Chaos from Matthew 11:25
30:33 | 05-24-2022
A Christian Meditation that Your Father Is Lord of Heaven and Earth from Matthew 11:25. This kind of Christian meditation brings the transcendent experience of God into your mind and into your body so that you can replace anxiety, insecurity, stress and tension with the better and truer imagination of God’s infinite and intimate presence and love for YOU.Acts 17:28 says “In him we live and move and have our being.” 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “…Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you…” which means that Christ has made your body holy. The apostle Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the body…” The way the resurrected Jesus inhabits our body is by the Holy Spirit.Matthew 11:25 (NIV)He is Lord of heaven and earth. Someone is in charge of the chaos. Your Father is in charge of all the chaos. He has an eternal plan and purpose. “He will cause all things to work together for good for his children” (Rom 8:28-30). “Not even a sparrow will fall to the ground apart from the will of your father in heaven.” “And you’re much more valuable to God than sparrows.“ “He has numbered the very hairs of your head” (Matt 10:29-31). He has “ordained the number of my days before one of them even came to be” (Ps 139:16).The God Jesus taught us and the Bible teaches us is a God who is in complete control of everything. This is why Jesus could confidently and calmly take a nap in a boat in the middle of a storm. And then when the disciples woke him up he simply spoke and calmed the storm and the waves.Remember that anxiety and fear and insecurity and anger block us from seeing God’s presence and his love for us in the moment. And they also block us from seeing God in control of every moment.Evil might be mighty in our world, but it’s not Almighty. Chaos might be mighty right now, but it’s not Almighty. Yahweh — HE IS — is the Almighty. And that’s true for every evil and every chaos in your life right now.Where there is anxiety, tension, insecurity, self protection, clenched muscles – replace it with trust and a calm confidence in this truth. Your father is Lord of heaven and earth. Use your imagination to see this reality right now. Whatever it is you don’t think is under his control, see it now as completely under his control. Use your imagination to become mindfully aware of this reality right now. God’s presence with you — Christ in you by the Holy Spirit. Whatever and wherever it is you you have let anxiety and insecurity and anger take control, see it now as completely under God’s control. And find rest in that truth. Feel your body become more calm and quiet and at rest as you become more and more mindfully aware of this reality using your imagination.Timestamps:Body Meditation 01:18 - 18:03Bible Meditation: Mathew 11:25 18:09 - 28:19Prayer 28:25 - 30:12Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it.Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur audio engineer is Diego Huaman.This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.
A Christian Meditation on Embracing Your “New Self” in Ephesians 4:22–24
30:28 | 05-19-2022
Like so much of the Bible, Ephesians 4:22-24 is highly imaginative language. And it’s primarily giving you an image to imagine regarding your very identity. It’s trying to help you understand some mysterious unseen reality by giving you understandable imagery to imagine as true for you. “Your old self” is some shadowy thing that is corrupt with deceitful desires that we are to actively and mindfully “put off.” It’s no longer the real you. It’s something else that’s always following you.Colossians 3:5 NIVColossians 3:8-10 (NIV)This “earthly nature” — in the context of the rest of the Bible’s larger story — is referring to the thorns and thistles and dust and death of the earth without Eden — without Heaven’s presence on Earth. It’s the same thing as our “old self” that we are called to put off or put to death. It’s always fixated on something “earthly” without God’s presence and love. Something that we think we need in the moment, but we actually don’t need. But when we do not get it, we become angry, anxious, insecure, stressed. This false self that always shadows us gets triggered when threatened, and it blocks our awareness of the security of God’s presence and love in that moment. This is one reason why so many people live in a kind of constant, low-grade anxiety — because they never recognize their “old self” when it triggers in them. Instead of recognizing it and putting it off as a false, shadowy self, they identify with it has the real them and put it on more and get more and more hijacked by its insecurity and fear and self protection and anxiety.Anxiety is a sign that the false self is demanding we cater to its “needs” instead of putting it off and dying to it like the Bible says. Most of our anxiety and tension and self protective relational dysfunctions are generated by this false self. The false self overshadows us from perceiving God’s presence and receiving God’s love in this moment. It keeps us stuck in repeated cycles of worry and insecurity and fear and feeling threatened. Our false self will never bring about true freedom and life.So use this meditation to imagine this reality into your body…Ephesians 4:22–24 ESVThe way we put off the old self and put on the new self is by the renewal of our mind — letting a better, truer imagination empower you with the life-giving desires of your new creation in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.Our false self hates those words, “righteousness and holiness.” Our shadowy self redefines and reimagines them as rigid and confining and boring. But in reality they are the exact opposite. TRUE righteousness and holiness are God’s splendor and power and beauty and glory and goodness and love and trustworthiness. As Colossians 3:1 said, there’s a sense in which we’ve already died and been raised to this new glory and beauty and righteousness and holiness. We are newly created in Christ — with Christ — to be like God himself! This was always God‘s intention — imagination — for us.So right now, using your imagination, focus on breathing in your new self, and breathing out the old self.Feel this in your body right now. Letting the Holy Spirit breathe his new creation and new life into you. Breathing in the likeness of God. Breathing in true righteousness. Breathing in true holiness. Breathing out decay and corruption. The corrupted thorns and thistles and dust and death of your old self. Breathing out false, shadowy desires that lead to more thorns and thistles and dust and death.Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it.Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur audio engineer is Diego Huaman.This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.
A Christian Meditation on Living Now As Someone Raised with Christ from Colossians 3:1-4
31:16 | 05-17-2022
The Bible’s contrast is never between Heaven and Hell. It’s between Heaven and Earth. That contrast began when Adam and Eve (Hebrew for Human and Life) were banned from Eden (Heaven on Earth meant the fill the Earth), and they were left outside in the thorns and thistles and dust and death of Heaven’s absence from the Earth.Later in the OT, the tabernacle and later the Temple became little embassies of Heaven on Earth. Physical places of God’s presence on Earth. In the NT, God is said to have become flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:14). Jesus was the very physical embodiment of Heaven on Earth. Later in the NT, the Holy Spirit indwells Jesus’s followers as they/their bodies become Temples of the Holy Spirit — embodied, physical places of Heaven on Earth. This is what YOU are — your body is — as a follower of Jesus!1 Corinthians 6:19–20 ESVColossians 3:1-4 (NIV)Colossians 3:1-2 (NIV)Colossians 3:5 NIVThese are Earth without Heaven desires.Set your hearts… seeing with the eyes of your heart (Eph 1:18) – your imagination. Envision with your imagination so that you can experience this reality in your heart and mind and body. This is always how your life works. Your mind is always imagining certain realities or unrealities – and that imagination is what drives your desires and therefore your decisions in your life. This is how we were created — to be people with powerful imaginations that can actually see unseen realities and then create them or experience them. In Genesis 1, God first imagines and then makes it so. And he created us in his image to be the same way. But sin — Earth without Heaven desires of sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed — hijacks and captures our imagination. This is what creates your anxieties. Stress. Worries. Insecurities. Fears. These imaginations enter and affect your body in real ways.But Christian meditation allows us to recalibrate our lives with the powerful images and imaginations of God's word given to us by his Holy Spirit. By learning to use our biblically guided imagination we can experience unseen realities and actually feel these realities in our bodies and in our lives in a way that shapes our desires and our decisions in powerful ways. Life-changing ways.Galatians 2:20 (NIV)The Bible has these multilayered images for us to imagine so that we can experience transcendent realities now, in this moment. Using your biblically-guided imagination, feel these realities into your body right now: You have been crucified with Christ. You have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. You have been raised with Christ. Christ is your life. Christ lives in you — the life you now live in the body. You will appear with Christ in glory when he returns and brings Heaven back to Earth. Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it.Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur audio engineer is Diego Huaman.This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.
A Christian Meditation on Christ’s Presence in Me and Love for Me from Galatians 2:20
29:52 | 05-12-2022
Today we’re going to meditate on what I think is one of the most important and inspiring and life-giving sentences in the entire Bible.Galatians 2:20 (NIV)This is always how your life works. Your mind is always imagining certain realities or unrealities – and that imagination is what drives your desires and your decisions and your life. This is why the advertising industry appeals to your imagination more than gives you information. This is how we were created — to be people with powerful imaginations that can actually see unseen realities and then create them or experience them. In Genesis 1, God first imagines and then makes it so. And he created us in his image to be the same way. But sin hijacks and captures our imagination. Your anxieties. Stress. Worries. Insecurities. Fears. Christian meditation allows us to recalibrate our lives with the powerful images and imaginations of God's word given to us by his Holy Spirit. By learning to use our biblically guided imagination we can experience unseen realities and actually feel these realities in our bodies and in our lives in a way that shapes our desires and our decisions in powerful ways. Life-changing ways.In Paul, this “I” that has been crucified with Christ is the person of bondage to sin and death. The Genesis 3 person with no future or hope. To be crucified with Christ is to be joined with Christ and taken into his death — the death of Genesis 3 — and brought through the other side of death with him into his resurrection. This is all imagination. But it’s real.I no longer live — The “I” that was separated from God, alone, like Cain a destined wanderer. But now I am no longer alone. No longer on my own. No longer have to justify my existence. That part of my life is over now. Crucified with Christ.Christ lives in me — the one through whom all things were made (John 1: 3), the one who right now is present 100% on the surface of a moon orbiting a planet orbiting a star in a galaxy 13 billion light years away across the universe is now living in me! I am in Christ and Christ is in me.This does not replace “me.” It resurrects me. The source of all existence and the giver of all life — the one from whom “I” come, with all my personality and what makes me “me”, has now forever joined with me again and brought true life to my life. I am now one with my creator! My creator is one with me! I am no longer abandoned, wandering alone in a desert of dust and death and thorns and thistles.Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body – Christ indwells my body! My body is an eternal part of me. Crucified with Christ but now Christ lives in me and I live in Christ and Christ is always within me and with me! The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God – dependence – togetherness – reliance—calm confidence — trust — rest.Why?Who loved me and gave himself for me — for ME! The historical reality of Jesus’s death on the cross is proof of God’s infinite and intimate forever love for ME. Christ is always IN me and WITH me. I can trust in his constant presence and his love for ME.The things that have captured your imagination…are the things you serve.Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it.Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur audio engineer is Diego Huaman.This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.
A Christian Meditation on Being a New Creation from 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21
32:31 | 05-10-2022
One way God‘s people have been experiencing God‘s presence and love for thousands of years is through meditation. Meditation is learning to experience unseen realities using our biblically guided imagination. When we don’t live lives empowered by our biblically guided imagination, our Christian experience gets reduced to merely theological doctrines and moral rules. Of course, true biblical doctrines and moral boundaries are essential for living spiritually healthy lives. But if that’s all our “Christianity” is it will not produce spiritually healthy lives because something very very big is missing. And that kind of Christianity always gives way to more powerful imaginations. But because those other imaginations go against the grain of reality, our lives become fragmented from reality in God’s universe. And the fruits of fragmented, unreal lives appear in our mind/spirit as worry and fear and insecurity and self protection and frustration and anger and resentment. And in our body as stress and tension and anxiety. This is a “Christianity” and life that’s missing the infinite awe and intimate presence and connection with Christ. The I Am. It then becomes little more than an ideology with a set of ethics. Our faith gets reduced to beliefs and commands.Biblically guided meditation gives us a better imagination. The reality of the bigger story of all that God is for you in Jesus is a far better imagination. Explosive with wonder and beauty and glory and joy and life promise. Infinite awe and intimate presence!2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)This is imagery of life replacing death. New creation replacing death and decay. Where I live there’s a woods behind my house. I’m recording this in May. In the spring each day it’s kind of like a time lapse photography of new life replacing the old death and decay. It starts on the ground of the woods. Green starts to appear and you see more and more of the ground slowly becoming more and more green each day. Then smaller plants begin to bud and slowly a bit of green starts to fill the smaller branches of the smaller plants lower to the ground. After a couple weeks they start to become lush with green. Then some trees begin to bud and there are some trees where you can see small sprouts of green leaves in the tall branches. But there are other trees that still look like it’s February. Completely bare branches. The dead look of winter. In one sense it seems to happen fairly fast over the course of a month or more. In another sense it’s a slow process. Some trees that are coming alive still look dead. Other places look more and more alive but not near what they will be a month from now. It depends on your perspective of time. Not much happens in an hour. But lots seems to happen in a week. Especially a warmer week with lots of sunshine. Colder weeks seem less so. Day by day.This is what it’s like to be in Christ. A new creation has begun but the process takes time. You are in the already/not yet. But you have God‘s promise and you have his Holy Spirit to give you confident expectation that breathes/speaks life into you right now. Feel this into your body. Behold.Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it.Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur audio engineer is Diego Huaman.This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.