Wednesday 31 January 2007

We continue to move into chapter three in the letter to the Colossians.

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (3:1) Set you minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. (3:2-4)

This is not a spatial focus. It is a living focus. Live within the power of the one who sits at the right hand of God. Set your minds on life that is shaped in the way of Jesus and not in the way the powers of the earth would run things. In baptism we have been put to death. We have been brought into a community in which the the day-to-day operations of daily life are set with free from any power that tries to own us and control us. Our life - our status - comes from the Christ who claims us and will never leave us behind. That cannot be seen. It is not noted by how we dress or rules of eating or rules of worship. Rather, our status before God is hidden in a promise that is the Christ of God whose death and resurrection becomes the power for life that stands with us and for us. The world and others and even we ourselves may have plenty of conditions what makes us a blessed child of God in Christ. Then again, we are these children not because of what we think and want and expect. We are a part of this blessed community because it is the life in which our God wants us to rest and live. What a glorious life to have available to us.

Connection: Our life must continue to stay focused on the one who liberates and sets us free and stands for us in all times - Christ, Jesus. In that way, anything that attempts to overtake us or subdue us or bully us or claim us will have no power as this day unfolds.

Lord of Glory, we long for the courage and faith to walk within your glorious promises. At times we see the glory and yet we turn and long for our own glory and promise. Guide us, O Lord of Love, and bring us into that glorious Reign with all the saints. Amen.