LEARNING DAILY

 

Colossians 3:1-2, Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights (seek) on the realities of heaven (the things above), where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. (New Living Translation)

 

I have put in parentheses the descriptive words found in the New King James Version. In the last page of the blog, we mentioned that the eye was extremely important in our walk on the narrow way. Remember that Jesus said “when your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.” Our vision is influenced by how we see the world (Tony Dungy). In the verses above the Apostle Paul gives strong instructions to “set our sights (seek) on the realities of heaven (things above)”.  One of my favorite verses is found in Matthew 6:33 and it fits perfectly here, “But seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” What things? Everything we need to live our life.

 

 Look up! Keep focused on the things above. What does that mean? It means “we focus our will and emotions on the spiritual reality of heaven and letting that control our motivations, rather than getting caught up in earthly concerns” (DJSB).  We can live this way because our lives are in Christ who is seated at the right hand of God, the Father, in heaven. Because our life is in Him, we walk on the narrow way that leads to eternal life in His kingdom; as Christians we set our minds and our attitudes on the “things above”. We don’t walk around with our eyes on the ground absorbed by the things right in front of us. No! You and I must “evaluate everything from an eternal and heavenly perspective. That means our goals and pursuits should center in Jesus Christ” (LSSB).

 

For the Christian, this should be a lifelong pursuit because the spiritual graces, power and blessings are with Christ in heaven. He gives these things to those who sincerely and diligently pursue Him. We diligently pursue Him by reading and studying and applying His Word to our lives. Staying in His word renews our mind (Romans 12:1-2), reminds us to put on the spiritual armor He gives us (Ephesians 6:10-20), and make the faithful be triumphant over temptation.

 

This, in turn helps us to die to our old life and live for Christ. We must always keep our fellowship with Christ and our love for Him at the very center of our lives. Scripture points to the One who supplies everything our hope in Him expects and that is every Christian’s calling in Jesus Christ. When you are experiencing difficulties, look up! When temptation comes, look up!

“Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth.” That is a pretty good word for each of us today!

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB.