Colossians 3:1-4

Colossians 3:1-4

Therefore if you all were being raised together with Christ, seek the things above where Christ is while being seated at the right hand of God.  Fix your attention on the things above, not the things upon the earth.  For you all died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ should be revealed – your life – then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Seek the things above.  This is such an important piece of spiritual advice that Paul tells it to us twice.  We are to fix our attention on the things above.  Christ is already with the Father.  Because of this, we can have hope that we too will be with Christ in the presence of the Father.  God raised Christ from the dead; He can raise us, too!

Do you live with the resurrection in your sight?  What does that look like to you?

Second Thought:

There is something else with regard to the line: “Fix your attention on the things above.”  Paul is telling us to fix our attention on the things above because Paul knows that we are easily distracted.  We have an eternal goal, but we are short-sighted people.  In my mind, it is like composing a great casserole.  Most casseroles can be made in a few minutes in a skillet.  When you do that, you are able to eat quickly.  But the flavors aren’t blended.  The satisfaction is not as good as when we cook the casserole for an hour of more.  When we are patient and let the casserole cook fully, the flavors blend and the dish is full, composed, and completely satisfying.  This is true about eternal life.  We can live short-sighted and bounce from somewhat satisfying event to another somewhat satisfying event.  Or we can live with an eternal perspective and wait for a full and complete satisfaction in the life to come.

Do you struggle with spiritual distraction?  If so, where do you struggle?  If not, how are you able to avoid struggle?

Third Thought:

Spiritual delayed gratification. This passage is fundamentally about spiritual delayed gratification. We can know now that we live in Christ.  But we will not know that life fully and completely until Christ is revealed fully and completely.  We live now in the hope of greater life in the world to come.  It is a simple thought, but it is a difficult thought as well.  It is a hope that takes great maturity to embrace.  To follow Christ is to deny our fleshly desires now knowing that our spiritual desires will be met eternally.

Do you ever have difficulty denying your fleshly pleasures?  Which are the ones that cause you the most difficulty?  How can our hope in the world to come deflect our fleshly desires?

Passage for Tomorrow: Colossians 3:5-6