The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Heavenly Citizenship, Earthly Good"
How do we live today in the light of tomorrow, or rather, of eternity?
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1-3).
First, note the Apostle Paul's fascinating reference to a present truth regarding Heavenly realities: "Hid with Christ in God." Paul also speaks to this wonder in his letter to the Ephesians:
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-6).
The Apostle encourages born again believers to realize we are Heavenly beings who already, as the Apostle John declared, "have eternal life" (I John 5:13). We live upon the earth, of course, in fleshly temples amid realities we must address in terms of applied personal responsibility and attention. This means that Christians of Heavenly substance and citizenship will be the most earthly good to others as we bring to bear glories of eternity upon time. We will realize and act upon the truth that genuine spiritual experience infuses our hearts, minds, hands, and feet with the determination to be and do all that we can to reflect our Lord's glory of "the Word… made flesh" (John 1:14). Heaven's values, protocols, and power revealed along earthly pathways - this was the incarnation of Christ long ago, and this is His present purpose as He now lives and walks in us (II Corinthians 6:16).
Setting our affections on Heaven, or rather, the Christ of Heaven, leads us to set our earthly aspirations to honor and reveal Him in our countenance, demeanor, attitude, words, actions, and self sacrificial devotion to the needs of others. The power of Heaven for such a life indwells us in the Person of the Holy Spirit, whose vital presence leads us to bring God's reality to bear on a fallen world and its needy citizens' hearts and lives. Yes, we "sit together in Heavenly places" for the purpose of ministering His Heavenly graces upon the earth.
"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
(Galatians 5:25)
Weekly Memory Verse
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
(Galatians 5:25)
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