This is our Sunday Re: Think, an opportunity for us to continue to think on the events of last Sunday.
Last Sunday we looked at Living the True Remedy, or in other words; how is it that we as followers of Christ can begin to live out in real terms our understanding of who Christ is. In Colossians 3:1-4, Paul begins to explain what this relationship lived out really looks like. These verses serve as a bridge between how we are to think about Jesus Theologically and then how we live in a relationship with Him in light of that.
Since we believe what we do about the person and work of Christ, our lives will look different because of that. To begin explaining what he means Paul tells us we need to
- Seek what is above
- Remember who we are
- Hold on to hope
We seek what is above because that’s where Jesus is. The appeal of heavenly things is the presence of Christ. Without Christ all of the things of heaven, whether reunion with loved ones who have gone before, or the absence of pain and sorrow would be the torments of Hell, for what makes Heaven such a glorious place is the presence of Christ. We also seek what is above, because we are not perfect people and this is not a perfect place. All around us we see the results of a cracked existence, even when we look in the mirror. In so many ways we are marred by the effects of sin.
It is the result of sin that causes mothers to slaughter their unborn children and call it a personal choice. It is the result of sin that causes children in other parts of the world and even within the US to go to sleep hungry and others to be sold into sexual slavery. It is the result of sin that causes madmen to high-jack airplanes and fly them into buildings killing thousands, and it is the result of sin that causes husbands to hit their wives and wives to speak evil of their husbands to others as well as children to act and speak in disrespectful ways.
Sin is a pandemic of epic proportion and the only true Remedy is Jesus
In addition to seeking what is above, we need to remember who we are. Paul is constantly reminding the Colossian believers and us as well that our true identity is wrapped up in who Christ is. We are now dead to an old way of life and we are now hidden with Christ. This gives us great hope, for in Christ we are safe secure and unleashed to do His will. We need to remember that in this relationship there is no “I”. We own nothing and are merely outward beneficiaries of divine mercy given to us.
Finally, Paul reminds us we need to hold on to hope, for when Christ is revealed, we will be revealed with Him. Right now we are only mere shells of what God has created us to be and as Paul says in Corinthians, at this time we carry around the glory of God in these un-ordained clay pots of our ordinary lives and one day we will be made whole again.
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