COLOSSIANS 1:21-22 – And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him.”
THEME OF THE DAY: LIVE NOW AS WE ARE GOING TO BE PRESENTED. You may likely have heard these words about some Christians, “They are so heavenly-minded, they are of no earthly good.” I don’t know who originated those words, but please don’t buy into them. Here is what C.S. Lewis said, “They do the most earthly good who are most heavenly-minded.” Now do buy into those words for they are true!
Heavenly thinking about the future is the key to godly living in the present. The scripture is replete with such affirmations. Here are two.
The Apostle Paul writes to the Colossians exhorting them to have their hearts and minds grounded in heaven – If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4). The application is where our thinking and affections are attached will determine what we live for.
We also see this heavenly thinking from the pen of the Apostle John. He points us to the 2nd coming of Christ and the radical implications of living for that glorious day – See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure (1 John 3:1-3). The point we take from John for current day Christians is the more we think about seeing Jesus, the more we are transformed into His holy image.
But there is something more to consider and it comes from today’s scripture. God is at work in us to someday present to Himself a people who are holy, blameless, and above reproach before Him. If that is our future, then the natural conclusion and application is “live now as we are going to be presented – holy, blameless and above reproach. When we live focused on what God is going to finish in the future, we “co-labor” with Him along the way, pursuing what He is going to finish. A good text of application? It is in the second chapter of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians – Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).
PRAYER: “Father, may I strive each day of my life for the holiness which You will complete in me.”
QUOTE: “The more we focus on what we will be, the more our lives will be transformed today.”
Because of Him,
Pastor Jim