Set!

Set!

Colossians 3:2 AMP

[2] Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]. 

Paul and Timothy are credited with writing this letter to the church in Colosse. Paul described himself as an apostle, who is a special messenger and a personally chosen representative of Christ Himself. Timothy is also described as a brother, and we know how this young man started. It was not the best of starts, but in the hands of God, the start never looks anything like the ending. Paul too did not have the ideal start, but he had the special privilege of a close relationship with Christ at some point in his life, and this turned his life around. Like Paul and Timothy, this special encounter with Jesus is fundamental to what God has planned for us. 

For anyone who seeks to be used by God for mighty things, and not just a one-off experience, you need to have that clarity of understanding who Jesus is, what He is, and what He demands of all who choose to follow and submit to Christ. As the verse before the one above makes clear, I am raised with Christ into a new life. I identify with His death on the cross, because there was my past dealt with permanently. The cross was a place of shame for all who carried it and were put to death on it, but the One who bore it was not moved by the shame. He kept His eye on the people who would come to know Him, and would propagate the good news about Him.

This is what is expected of those who have come to know and follow Christ: they keep their hearts fixed on the eternal, but without losing sight of the earthly. They understand that they have been saved from sin and preserved on earth to provide living examples of how Christ can change a life, and still make him relevant down here on earth. Too many times, we find men and women who are saved, but think that the polluted world is beneath them. They do not want to associate in any way with the fallen world, so they cut off all connections with the world. How can you impact a place whose issues you have not taken time to understand? 

We have been raised with Christ to a new life, and we are the partakers of the power of His resurrection. We have been set apart for His glory, and we are the visible, audible and human expressions and instruments to make God known to the world around us. We keep His nature; we are bound for eternal and permanent dwellings, but whilst we wait for the manifestation, we do not forget to make Him known here on earth. What is the use of a life that Christ has impacted but is not able to make God known? How do I attract men to the love and light I have received, if I cut myself off from the place where men need to see Him in and through me? May He be made known. May He be real in me. God's time of favour is here.