10-28-23-ENG.

"Even when we were dead in our transgressions, [God] made us alive together with Christ. " 

Ephesians 2:5 
KEEP LOOKING UP 

Read It: Colossians 2:12-13; 3:1 
We've said it a hundred different ways this year, but it keeps coming up in every topic we study: We are new people, completely new creations, ations, in Christ Jesus. This is such a radical concept that the Bible speaks of it as nothing less than a death, burial, and resurrection. Okay, that's our Theology 101 lesson for today. The question God's Word wants us to pursue is, what are the implications of our new identity? How should new creations in Christ look, act, and think? To help answer that last point, we will turn to Colossians 3 today and tomorrow Notice the command here in verse 1: "Keep seeking the things above." Why? Because that's where our life is. Since we died and rose with Christ, we're now citizens of heaven. And even though we may not arrive there for a few more decades, we need to take our mental cues from above. What this verse tells us is that to develop a Christian mind, we have to shift our focus from earth to heaven. Now I know some preachers have used verses like this to tell people not to worry about anything on earth and just to think about the glories of heaven all day long. That's not what Paul is saying. He's not concerned about teaching you how to live in heaven. That will take care of itself when you get there. Paul is teaching you how to live on earth with a renewed mind. 

What this verse is saying is: "Take a good look at heaven so you will know how to live and think heavenly on earth." So if you are going to live and think heavenly in a hellish world, you've got to have heavenly software teaching your earthly computer, your mind, how to think. Why should you keep looking up? Because that's where Christ is, seated at the Father's right hand in the place of honor, dignity, and authority. That means when you seek to think like Jesus Christ, you are seeking that which God honors and which pleases Him, because God honors His well-pleasing Son above all. Think About It Do you take your cues on how to think from the "tube" or the temple in heaven? Are you listening to Jerry or Jesus, to Sally or the Son of God?