God has specific instructions as to how we should live. This daily devotional looks at how we need to set our sights on Him.
Nuggets
- Our focus must be on Christ, Who is with God.
- Christ is not hidden from us after conversion because we are in Him.
- Christ will come back for His church.
Devotions in the Joy in the Gospel series
It seems strange that, while God said to set our focus on Him, He also says that Jesus is hidden from us. Let’s see if we can straighten it out.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Living Looking Above
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col. 3: 1-2 CSB)
Our focus must be on Christ, Who is with God.
We did a whole big series on Colossians 3: 1-2. We aren’t going to rehash that here. What we will say about those verses will be through the lens of joy in the gospel.
To read a devotion in the On Things Above series, click on the button below.
What we can say here is that we have to seek joy. Joy comes from God, but He isn’t just joking to bestow it on us without our choosing to follow Him.
Oh, yes. Worldview people find joy in their world. That joy is temporary and doesn’t hold a candle to the joy God gives.
Glossary
What this section is all about is we are pursuing godliness. The Family Churchman explained that as a “… new quest is for righteousness, holiness, patience, devotion, love, and self-sacrifice.”
Resource
- Righteousness is the indwelling goodness that is the result of a solid relationship with God built by a sincere life of conscientious obedience to God’s laws and commandments and from which all virtues flow.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to our being set apart through consecration to mold to God’s Will.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Patience is a steadfast endurance in opposition without losing a positive attitude.
- Love is an intense feeling of deep affection.
When we become new creations, we get a new heart. That is because we are focusing on the permanent things, not temporary, earthly things.
That brings us new life. We’ve talked before about being new creations.
Glossary
New life comes because we are resurrected from our sins. Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
All of this is possible because we have a new hope in Jesus. This hope is in His second coming. The Family Churchman wrote, “He shall come the-second time without sin unto salvation.”
Resource
I had a subscriber write me once, saying that means we cannot come to God for salvation until Jesus comes again.
Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin. The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
I don’t think that is what it means at all. Look what Peter wrote.
“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (I Pet. 1: 8-9 ESV).
The first verse starts out with Jesus isn’t visible to us — has never been to these people — and us. But the end of the second verse ends up with salvation.
It doesn’t say this salvation will come when Jesus does. It says you believe now and have the joy and glory now. The outcome of the faith is salvation.
- “For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (II Cor. 6: 2 ESV).
- “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work” (Jn. 9: 4 ESV).
We always think God gives us the chance to turn to Him. Scriptures shows us times when this was not the case.
Belshazzar read the writing on the wall and died that night. Sodom and Gomorrah was judged and sentenced — as was the entire earth in Noah’s time.
We can’t wait for later to gain salvation.
Foster argued that the joy comes from being morally correct. We know that the worldly morals must be kicked up to spiritual graces.
Resource
Unfortunately, that isn’t what happens. We may be made in God’s image, but we also have the Adam chromosome. We are sinful people.
What does that mean? The Adam chromosome is going to be more prevalent because we are a part of the physical world.
We are only a part of the spiritual world when we have faith in a loving Savior.
That dichotomy will try to steal our joy.
Foster had a real great question. He asked how we knew that we have reached the correct balance of setting our sites on things above. Foster thought this was an unhesitatingly conscious decision.
Hiding Our Lives with Christ
“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3: 3 CSB)
Christ is not hidden from us after conversion because we are in Him.
We think of death as a bad thing. We think of the separation and pain that comes with it.
When we become believers, we are dead to our old ways of life.
Garbett applied this to being alive in Christ. He wrote, “But this absence of life is ascribed to the converted likewise. They are not dead so as to denote the actual want of life, for Christ is their life; but dead because they have not this life in themselves. The soul has no power to quicken and regenerate itself.”
Resource
God regenerates our souls. Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal requickening in us that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
Glossary
Garbett noted that we have to evaluate our need for God. When we do this, we will find that we cannot come to salvation without Him.
I know. Worldview people want to be able to secure salvation on their own actions and beliefs.
Not. Going. To. Happen.
We can only come to eternal life through Jesus. Davies wrote, “Our life is bound up with His. He is Source, Medium, Giver. This destroys every hope of obtaining salvation without Him. Then let the sinner trust Him alone; and let this truth fill the Christian with joy.”
- “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2: 8-9 ESV).
- “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10: 9 ESV).
- “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Ac. 4: 12: ESV).
- “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (Jn. 14: 6 ESV).
Resource
But what does “… your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3: 3 CSB) mean?
Garbett reminded us that God originally gave Adam and Eve life with access to Him. We know that God would walk with them in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3: 8).
Glossary
They blew that.
We can only get that level of a relationship with God back when we ABCD. The life of justification and sanctification that we are given is hidden from the world.
Justification is the act through the merits of Christ that makes us free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws. Jesus justifies us when we put our lives in His hand.
Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration, gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- The perfected state indicates maturity has been reached because the combination of the spiritual graces, when all are present, form spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
Glossary
Baker expanded on what that means. He wrote, “It is hid from the world, not in its characteristics and effects, but in its nature and spiritual operations. Communion with God, justification, assurance, Christian peace and joy, are all inscrutable to the natural man, because only spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 1:11).”
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This isn’t just hidden from non-believers. Some of it is hidden from disciples.
Well, that is logical. We know that God just introduces Himself in Scriptures. He reveals Himself to us as we seek Him.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Jesus, Himself, nurtures this union. We hide in God. We know we are engraved in His hand (Isa. 49: 16).
When Christ Appears
“When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3: 4 CSB)
Christ will come back for His church.
Hodge told us what all it means to have Christ as our lives.
- We perform activities befitting to children of God.
- We possess a happiness.
Resource
Glossary
Steele reminded us that Christ is our life because He is the Christ of the Cross. He can only be our Savior because He shed His blood through His death to pay for our sins.
Resource
Devotions in the Love Led to the Cross series
Jesus was hidden in the Old Testament. Yes, the were prophecies and veiled references about Him.
But Jesus didn’t appear until He was placed in a manger.
Jesus is going to appear again. No, it won’t be as a baby. It will be as an avenging King.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
We are going to appear with Christ in glory. God wants us to wait and watch for that day.
Glossary
Making the Connections
God wants us to focus on Him, not this world. When we look to what Christ has done for us to redeem us, we can see the love God and Jesus have for us.
Aspects of Who God is and what He has done for us is hidden from us. But we are also hidden in Him.
How Do We Apply This?
If you have not admitted that your relationship is not right with God,
have not asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior,
and have not confessed your sins,
please read through the Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Father God. We look up to You. We will diligently search for You and seek You. We will pursue even the hidden things because we want to know all there is about You. Amen.
What do you think?
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