CRUCIFIED AND RAISED UP?

PART 3     THIS IS NOT MY HOME

Back in part 2 we referred to Colossians 3:1-3

THEREFORE if you have been raised up with Christ,

We then went to Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

We made the point in the last blog that in order to be raised up with Christ, you must first have been crucified with Christ!

Hopefully we all realize that it is by grace that we are saved through faith and not by works… Ephesians 2:8-9

So crucified and raised up, you are with Christ!

Now, crucified is obviously dying to sin and self, but raised up?

On one hand we are to resist the old man, the flesh, the devil and our own desires and on top of that, we are to do it all by faith. Galatians 3:11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.

 And on the other hand we have Christ living in us.

I don’t know about you but sometimes I get confused about all that stuff. I mean which battles am I to fight and which battles Christ is to fight for me?

If you read the bible and attend a bible preaching/teaching church you should already know that you have the Holy Spirit of God residing inside you. Lets read something about the Holy Spirit in John 16:13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.

That’s actually pretty amazing isn’t it?

Spirit of truth guiding you, speaking to you, disclosing to you, glorifying Jesus?

What more could we want?

But when was the last time the Holy Spirit did any of that in your life? And who is at fault for you missing out on Gods promises? Do you think that it’s the Holy Spirits fault? That the Holy Spirit isn’t doing His job? I know for me that “out of sight, out of mind” kinda applies to my life when it comes to the Holy Spirit. I mean, how can you have someone actually living inside of you and yet not know it? Why doesn’t the Holy Spirit kick me once in a while? Or maybe He does? Maybe He does jump up and down inside you from time to time? Maybe He does try to make contact with our pea brains, or at least with our heart. Either way, aware of His presence or not, the word of God does tell us that the Holy Spirit does dwell inside us.

I think that I am drifting into another blog topic, so allow me to refocus and continue on about being crucified and risen up with Christ…

How do we cope when it comes to all the battles that we as born again Christians face on a daily basis?

I try to remember that dead people don’t react and that according to Galatians 2:20 the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Dwell on the flesh and I will continually get frustration, dwell on the Son of God, dwell on that He loves me, dwell on that He gave Himself up for me and I just have to smile.

Even in the midst of the battle and frustration, I just have to smile.

The point of all of this is that being raised up with Christ will bring battles, frustrations, thorns in your flesh and conflicts in your heart, mind and soul.

Sooooooooooo, in order to live in Christ here on earth, right now in whatever situation, you need to take the whole verse in context.

Let’s read the rest of Colossians 3:1

IF YOU HAVE BEEN RISEN WITH CHRIST,

THEN…

keep seeking the things above,

where Christ is,

seated at the right hand of God.

So what is keep seeking supposed to mean?

It means that once you start seeking you don’t stop seeking until you have found what you are seeking for!

All day yesterday my 5 year old grandson was playing hide and seek with his 13 year old sister. Now a 13 year can think of some pretty good places to hide, so good in fact that my grandson would soon get frustrated or distracted and give up and stop looking for her!

This is the exact opposite of what it means to keep seeking.

No matter what the level of frustration is, no matter how small you think your detective skills are, no matter how scary the next place you may look seems to be, you flat out refuse to give up.

I would hate to think of how many times I have given up on seeking after God for certain situations when the answer was right around the corner…

keep seeking the things above,

where Christ is,

seated at the right hand of God.

WHERE IS YOUR KING?

WHERE IS YOUR LORD AND MASTER AND SAVIOR?

IS HE SEATED ON THE THRONE IN HEAVEN?

BETTER YET,

IS HE SEATED ON THE THRONE OF YOUR HEART?

HOW DO YOU KNOW?

WHAT DOES Paul say in verse 2?

2 Set your mind on the things above,

   not on the things that are on earth.

ASK YOURSELF, WHERE IS YOUR MIND SET?

ON THE THINGS ABOVE,

OR

ON THE THINGS ON THIS EARTH?

Stay tuned for part 4, What is a mind set?