Good morning. I would like to begin our thought for this day with a beautiful passage of scripture, Colossians 3:1-3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
What a wonderful reminder for those who live each day in the Lord. We are to set our hearts and our minds not on the things of this earth, but on the things that are above. We are to set them on the heavenly things, because that is where Jesus is waiting for us.
It is too easy to set our minds on the troubles, the disappointments, the vulgarities, the evils of this world. To do so is a mistake. Yes, those things exist. Yes, we are to be warriors for the cause of Christ to bring about righteous results in a fallen world. But our focus must always be on the ways of heaven. We can never defeat evil with evil, only with good. (Romans 12:12)
What a wonderful truth is shared with us in verse 3: For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. We have died to the ways of this broken world and the evil one may look, but if we remain in Christ, he will not find us. Why? Because we are “hidden” with Christ in God. The Lamb covers us and the evil one will go nowhere near Him.
I do not speak Mandarin Chinese, but I was somewhat surprised to learn of the following language structure which is used in Mandarin to indicate our word “righteousness.”
The top half of the symbol is the one that represents a lamb. The bottom half is the one that represents the individual, or “me”. It is indicating that the symbol for righteousness is “the lamb over me.” Literally, it is saying that the concept of righteousness means being hidden beneath the Lamb. Amen. God speaks to many people in many different ways.
Please consider hiding out today. I don’t mean sitting in a closet with the light out and the door closed. I mean being hidden beneath the love of the Lamb. The enemy will never find us there. Keep your focus on the things of heaven and your mind will be invulnerable. Yes, we see the things of this world, how can we not? But we do not let those things rule our minds, our hearts, our spirits. Those belong to the Lamb!
Vern