PT-1 "The Responsibility" (Col. 3:1b-2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/9/2017 8:19 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 “The Responsibility”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Colossians 3:1b-2

            Message of the verses:  “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”

            Now that Paul has given the Colossian believers and also those who read and study this passage about the reminder that is in the first part of verse one, he goes on to talk about the responsibility that we have.

            John MacArthur talks about the words “keep seeking” which in the Greek are in the presence tense “zeteo.”  This indicates a continuous action, something we need to continually do.  He writes “Preoccupation with the eternal realities that are ours in Christ is to be the pattern of the believer’s life.  Jesus put it this way:  ‘Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you’ (Matt. 6:33).”  What Paul is talking about here is not a form of mysticism but rather what he is writing about is that the Colossian’s and all believers are to be preoccupied with heaven which will then govern their earthly response.  So as we think about being preoccupied with heaven we know that we are to be preoccupied with the One who is in heaven.  The God of heaven reigns there and also on earth and His purposes, plans, provisions, and power are who He is and therefore He is the One that we can trust to work out His plans and purposes for us who belong to Him through the death of Jesus Christ who paid it all. As believers we are to view things through the eyes of the Lord and that means that we have to know things about the Lord and the only way we can do that is to read and study His Word.

            “The things above” speaks to the heavenly realm and hones in on the spiritual values that characterize Christ, such as tenderness, kindness, meekness, patience, wisdom, forgiveness, strength, purity, and love” writes John MacArthur.

            So what should happen to believers when they think on the things above?  We can truly enjoy the big wide world that our Creator Father has made for us.  Think about this as we ponder the creation week.  God made different things on different days and then on the last day He made the animals and then He made His prize creation, which of course is man.  God got everything ready on earth for man whom He created last and so we, especially believers, should think about His creation when we think on the things above.

            We will close our Sunday evening SD with words from a hymn entitled “I Am His, and He Is Mine.”

“Heav’n above is softer blue

Earth around is sweeter green!

Something lives in every hue

Christless eyes have never seen:

Birds with gladder songs o’er flow

Flow’rs with deeper beauties shine,

Since I know, as now I know,

I am His, and He is mine.”

4/9/2017 9:15 PM