Monday, December 30, 2024
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
The Most Important Resolution
Every day I am thankful for a fresh new start. A new day, a do-over, new mercies every morning. I am constantly striving to make things different in my life, to make them better, often feeling like I have just missed the mark, and too exhausted to keep going. So, I go to bed to start again tomorrow.
Are you as weary as I am? Are you ready for a new life, a new beginning? We 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. We have the marks of a new creation on us.
A Life Marked
The company Microsoft has a slogan that asks, "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.
As the year winds down it is naturally a time of reflection on what we have done and a time of consideration for what we want to accomplish or change in the new year to come. I encourage you to examine your relationship with God and your walk with Him as the most important part of this process. Yes we all need personal goals and we need to show some initiative personally but the most important part of who we are is our relationship with him. How do we walk that out before others - do they know we are his by the way we live and treat them? Do we live and love others like Jesus? Add this most important part of planning your future to the top of the list!
