Come into my heart, O Lord Jesus

Thus far, we have seen the Christ revealed in Colossians mainly in a doctrinal way. Now we need to see the experience of this Christ. Colossians 2:6-7 says, "As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." We need to consider what it means to receive Christ. We received Christ when we opened our being, repented, confessed our sins to Him, and said, "Lord Jesus, I believe into You. Please come into me." When we are newly saved, we may not know that Christ is the life-giving Spirit or that we have a human spirit. We may pray, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart." There is even a popular gospel hymn that says, "Into my heart, into my heart, / Come into my heart, Lord Jesus" (Hymns, #1061). This song is good, but it is not entirely accurate. Second Timothy 4:22a says, "The Lord be with your spirit." It does not say, "The Lord be with your heart." The Lord first comes into our spirit. Ephesians 3:17a speaks of Christ making His home in our heart. After coming into our spirit, Christ gradually makes His home in our heart.

Our spirit may be likened to the living room in a home, and our heart may be likened to the bedroom, the inner chamber. When an unfamiliar guest comes to visit us for a short time, we may welcome him into our living room. However, when an intimate acquaintance comes to stay for several days, we will show him to a bedroom and tell him to feel at home. Regrettably, many of us have received the Lord only into our living room, our spirit. We have not ushered Him into our inner chamber, our heart.

We have received Christ into our spirit, and He now desires to spread into the parts of our heart. The four parts of our heart are our mind, emotion, will, and conscience. Christ is spreading from our spirit in the center of our being to the surrounding parts of our mind, emotion, and will. The Christ whom we have received is not far away, like money in a bank account. Rather, Christ is in our spirit, spreading into our heart. When Christ has spread into all our inward parts, He will be settled in our heart, having made His home in our heart.