Friday, September 17, 2021
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4
If...Then
Every dayI wake up thankful and excited for a fresh new start - a new day, a do-over, new mercies every morning. I feel like I am always working to make things different in my life, to make them better, and to make me better. I never feel like I have arrived and mostly find myself exhausted by it all. But, tomorrow is a new day!
Are you as weary as I am? Are you ready for a new life, a new beginning? We will strive day after day and never find what we want when we do it in our own power., but as Christians can become a “new man” through Jesus Christ. The “If then…” in the scripture above poses the question of Are You? Are you a born-again believer, Are you a child of God? This passage is a challenge for us to become what we have been empowered to be - in Christ. As His children, we have the marks of a new creation on us!
A Life Marked
A few years ago, Microsoft has a slogan that asked, "Where do you want to go today?" It’s a good spiritual question to be asked of ourselves every day. Deciding where you want go also decides what direction we want to go.
“Every day you get up without a purpose, a goal and a plan you will live someone else’s.”
Two great tools for Satan are distraction and procrastination.
He does not have to get me to say I am not going to do something…just that I am not going to do it today. Safeguard yourself against Satan’s tactics by seeking the things of God's design, desire, and direction.
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above…
- Seek first the Kingdom of God.
- Seek the things of God.
- Put heaven's priorities into practice every day.
- Setting the direction - Set your mind on the direction to go.
- Concentrate on the eternal and not the temporary.
- Seek and set sights on that above, not below.
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory
- For you died means that we have died to self and we are covered and concealed in Christ. We should have as little desire for this world as a dead person would have. A daily dose of dying to self would allow us to see life from God’s perspective more freely.
Every day is a new day. Don't get caught up in the failures of yesterday, but look forward to each new day in Him. Set your mind on Him and things above, and live risen to new life in Him.
I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
1 Corinthians 15:31
