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A HEART SET ON THINGS ABOVE (I)
MONDAY, APRIL 26
Colossians 3:1-3

John 15:1-5

 

“If ye then be risen

with Christ…”

 

A HEART SET ON THINGS ABOVE (I)
 
The Apostle Paul begins Colossians 3 with a statement of spiritual reality. The “if ” with which he opens the first verse, has really the sense of “since” (especially in light of his earlier statements, eg. in Col 2:12). Christians are indeed “risen” together with Christ ‒ but we must consider more deeply what this means, before we can proceed to consider what Paul makes of this spiritual reality.
 
The thought, first, is that of union. Christians are “risen” together with Christ, because Christians are united to Christ: we are “dead with Christ” (Col 2:20), “buried with [Christ]” (Col 2:12), and therefore “risen with Christ” (Col 3:1). The Christian life is a life of vital union and connection with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. This the Lord Himself described using the figure of a branch abiding in the vine (cf. John 15:1-5).
 
Second, and more specifically, however, the thought focuses on the resurrection of Christ as both a triumph and transformation. The Lord Jesus rose from the grave, victorious over death; this victory then applies to all Christians who are united with Him. The Lord Jesus ascended from death to glorious life; this transformation is then the daily experience of all Christians who are abiding in Him.
 
But Paul uses this fundamental fact of the Christian life, this spiritual reality that ought to be the experience of every Christian, as the basis for a stirring exhortation. He is calling for a concord between the spiritual reality of being “risen with Christ,” and its implications in our daily life. The two must match! The fact of being “risen with Christ” must be evident in the direction, motive, and goal toward which a Christian lives his life on this earth. Paul goes on in the following verses to describe what the Christian ought to seek and how to seek it, then reiterates why it must be those things in particular for which the Christian seeks. Dear reader, what are you seeking after in this life? What is the target toward which your life is directed? Does it accord with the spiritual reality of being “risen with Christ”?
 
THOUGHT: Is the direction of my life a witness to the resurrection?

PRAYER: Father, help me to set my heart aright!

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