Camille Ruiz
Colossians 3:1-4
IF YE THEN BE RISEN WITH CHRIST…seek those things which are ABOVE
I Have you laid your life down and submitted yourself to God? Have you died to your flesh and risen with all power in the spirit? Colossians 2:10-12
Set your affection on things ABOVE, NOT on this earth Affection: fondness, love, warmth, DEVOTION, endearment, ATTACHMENT
What are you attached to? Where is your devotion? To what are you loving, spending time with, caring for, holding on to?
Are your thoughts focused on those things which are true and of good report, those things which are just and honest and lovely? Philippians 4:8
This world cannot receive the truth because it cannot see the truth. John 14:17
So if the world cannot see, receive, and comprehend truth…what can you gain from setting your focus on it?
FOR YE ARE DEAD
And your life is HID WITH CHRIST in God
Your life is hid in Him – your life is hid in the word of God!
This means that you can’t find your purpose in this world. You can’t find yourself in this world. You can’t discover what you are meant to be doing, where you are meant to be going, and after what you are meant to be chasing in this world. Your life is hid in him (the word of God) – if you have met the prerequisite.
Prerequisite: Matthew 16:24 – If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Promise: Matthew 16:25 – For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it
When Christ, WHO IS OUR LIFE, shall appear,
Then shall ye also appear with him IN GLORY
It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we will be like Him. 1 John 3:2
Once again, Christ is our life. Not our jobs. Not our children. Not our dreams. Nothing belonging to this world is our life. Christ is our life.
And if Christ is our life, we are to walk in such confidence. We are to put off all the bad deeds, including anger and filthy communication. And we are to put on the new man – the one renewed in knowledge after the image of God, the newness of the regenerated mind, the one no longer bound by sin and death but the one freed from the yoke of slavery and bondage. THAT is what we are to put on. LOVE, KINDNESS, MEEKNESS, LONGSUFFERING, FORGIVENESS, HUMILITY.
The illusion of this world can overwhelm us, consume us, frighten us, and tempt us to place ourselves in bondage. But with God, all things are possible. With God, we are longer bound by death. We are free! So what are we here for…to obtain “success”, monetary wealth, and prestigious status? Nah…we’re here to get to heaven! And we’re here to be living epistles! Forget all the mess of this world; set your mind on God, and He will keep you in perfect peace. Rejoice in this truth, this life, this freedom, this love!
Real Talk
