After a bit of a break, the EmmDevs are back - I hope you had a blessed Easter! Appropriately the passage today picks up on resurrection!
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Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians3:1-4
If chapter 2 urged us not to go back to old shadows, superstitions and disconnectedness, chapter 3 talks about the new life we can embrace. It could also be seen as the new uniform that we can put on.
I'm busy reading a book by Chip Ingram who said this about today's reading:
"Wherever your heart is located, that's the direction you will move.
If we "set our hearts on things above," if we begin to look at life from God's perspective, everything else in life will tend to follow...
Jesus seems to have had this same process in mind when He said, "Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth... but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also..."
We have to begin with the end in mind.
As much as we get caught up in present realities, the bottom line truth is that when we gave our lives to Christ, we died spiritually to an old life and have a new reality: we have been raised with Christ.
Try being a little "heavenly minded" today...
Think about hearing our Lord say "Well done good and faithful servant..."
This can have a huge impact on priorities, relationships, decisions and values.
We were dead, but now alive.
My life is hidden (secured/safeguarded) in Christ.
My eyes need to be on things above.
Try doing that through today...
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
