DAILY DEVOTIONAL – February 6, 2020
“Keep Your Head in the Clouds”
Prayer: Eternal Father, how high above our understanding You are. What a wonderful and hopeful Truth it is that You know all things and hold our lives in Your merciful hands. Lord, by Your power and Spirit, keep our minds centered on the marvelous mystery of our sure salvation in Jesus Christ Your Son our Lord. It is in His name we pray. Amen.
Scripture: Colossian 3:1-8
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.8 But now you must put them all away.
Devotional – “Keep Your Head In The Clouds”
While I was going through seminary I was attending a men’s Bible study led by one of my favorite professors. What I liked most about the professor was his “salt of the earth” personality, quick wit and very dry sense of humor. All of it right up my alley. In this Bible study, there was one gentleman who always liked to stir the pot. This gentleman wasn’t really desiring to make real trouble, but he did like to push buttons and often challenged the professor leading the study. One Bible study I remember in particular. We were talking about heaven, and the gentleman asked the professor in a somewhat futile and sarcastic tone, “Pastor can you please explain eternity to me.” The professor grinned, let out an equally sarcastic sigh and said, “I could, but it would take forever.”
It’s impossible to explain eternity. Why? Because we have no frame of reference. All we know as finite and sinful human beings is locked in time and space. Any analogy or illustration or explanation we come up with for eternity, or for the true essence of God Himself for that matter, will be woefully inadequate.
Though we cannot fully understand or explain eternity, the reality of our eternal existence should have a very real impact on the lives we live for this brief moment of time. This is exactly what Paul is telling us in our Colossians text when he says, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
It may be impossible to rationally understand and grasp eternity with our minds, but eternity is not something to be grasped with the mind, it is to be taken hold of by faith in Jesus Christ. As Paul says, it is by faith in Christ’s death, resurrection from the dead and His ascension back to the right hand of the Father that we are able to set our minds on things above, because we have already been raised with Christ!
Christ didn’t establish a church in heaven, He established His church on earth. At the same time, we are not to be consumed with this world. Christ has called us to be His light in the world, and as such we cannot be distracted or darkened by the meaningless minutia and narrow perspective of earthly existence.
I like how author Kent Crockett expounds on the need to keep an eternal perspective:
Suppose you sit down to read a book. It begins, “It was a dark and stormy night.” You stare at the first letter, trying to figure out what I means. It makes no sense, so you move on to the second letter, t. “I wonder what the author means by t,” you say. “I … t. Oh! He means it! Now we’re getting somewhere.” Then you examine the next letter, w. After 30 minutes of this, you haven’t made it through the first sentence. Why? Your perspective is too small.
You can expand your understanding if you’ll read words instead of letters. You’ll enlarge it more if you read complete sentences instead of individual words. To acquire the big picture, you must read paragraphs, chapters, the whole book.
Too many of us view our life experiences from the “letter” perspective, forgetting about how everything fits into God’s plan. If we see the big picture first, the little pieces start making sense. Life becomes amazingly clear when we view it from an eternal perspective. Keep this eternal outlook in mind as you work through life’s difficulties. Never forget that your calling extends beyond this present world.
By faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, eternity is yours my friends. Nothing in this life and no one in this life can take that away from us. Our faith and the security of our salvation is found in the mighty hand of He who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead. That is enough to keep our minds busy for all of eternity!
Thanks for joining me today for time in God’s Word, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of tomorrow…and all of eternity…amen.
