Things That Are Above

I’m writing this article on the day after our Easter celebration. What a glorious day indeed! The sights, sounds and even smells of Resurrection, new life, real life and people alive together embraced us all.

In the Epistle Reading yesterday we heard this read:

“Set your minds on things that are above…”
(Colossians 3: 2)

This is wise counsel from God’s Word. Living the resurrected life as “Easter People” is the promise of God in Christ Jesus: The Way, The Truth and The Life!

So much of life is shaped and even defined by what is attractive to us. So often the eyes of our mind focus on that which is attractive, beautiful or even acceptable by the world’s standards. So often the world’s encouragement and instruction is to live for oneself, but the resurrected life gives us the power to live for Jesus and for others.

The resurrection hope and life we receive from Jesus gives us the power to allow compassion, patience, forgiveness and, most of all, loving ministry and service to unleash the peace and the power of Jesus Christ in our lives and our relationships.

To be raised with Christ does not mean that we are “at all times and all places” instantaneously perfect. But it is to choose each day to “put to death that which is of the world” because we are no longer afraid to live our lives in Christ and for Christ.

To be raised with Christ means to see our lives and live our lives from an eternal perspective. Now, each day can be lived as a foretaste of the feast to come!

And so the song of resurrection, of hope, of celebration and of servanthood ministry continues and is indeed, unending!

As Jesus is the Way, may our complete trust be in Him alone!

– Pastor Jim