<p>3:3 <em>For you died- </em>Continuing the baptism allusions. When we were baptized, we died to the natural life, and therefore the only life we have is the life which we are given by reason of our association with the resurrected Lord Jesus. And therefore our spiritual life must be the central thing in our existence- not a hobby. As I dried myself off after my baptism, I opened my Bible at 'random', and came with marvellous appropriacy to Prov. 23:26: &quot;My son, give me thine heart&quot;. And Paul taught the same: &quot;Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God&quot; (Col. 3:3). &quot;The love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that (Christ) has died for all (believers); therefore all have died. And He died for all (of us), that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised... therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old (life) has passed away, behold, the new has come&quot; (2 Cor. 5:14-17 RSV). &quot;I was co-crucified with Christ (Gk.): nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me&quot; (Gal. 2:20). And &quot;The love of Christ constrains us&quot;, it shuts us up with no other real way to move, as the Greek implies.</p><p><em>And your life is hid with Christ</em>- The idea is of treasure in a totally secure place; for Christ is in &quot;the bosom of the Father&quot; (Jn. 1:18). Our most valuable treasure is our life, who we are, our personality, which is what shall eternally endure. The &quot;life&quot; in view is surely our eternal life. In this we see the supreme, eternal importance of the development of spiritual personality; for it is that which shall last eternally.</p>