By David ReayMonday 17 Oct 2022LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. (NLT)
A man called Stefan Kavinsky was once sentenced to hard labour in a Soviet Gulag in Siberia. He was for many years confined to a small cell a few metres square. He kept himself reasonably sane by walking round and round his tiny space. In time, he was released and went home to relatives on a large farm in the Ukraine. He had the freedom of the property. Yet for some time he only walked in small circles just as he had done whilst in captivity. He was free, but behaved as a captive.
Christians are those who have been set free from captivity to sin. And yet we often act as if the prison door has not been opened. We stay in our cell stubbornly refusing to enjoy our freedom. Or in terms of this passage, our focus is on our sinful tendencies not on the risen Jesus. We live earthbound lives rather than embracing the values of heaven where Jesus rules and where God’s will is done.
Paul reminds us that this new life we have in principle is hidden, it is not entirely evident. He says that the new life in principle will become new life in practice when Jesus returns to usher in the new age. Only then will we fully enjoy our freedom. Till then, we try to focus on the great realities and the true values of the risen, reigning Jesus. We enjoy what we already have even as we realise we don’t yet have it all.
Blessings
David