Collossians 3
1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
The lordship of Christ is intimately connected to Paul’s reminder that we have been buried and raised with Christ. If we are raised with Christ, then we have died to the old life and all of its ways. We should, therefore, spend no time seeking after things that are under the lordship of the rulers of this earth (whether human rulers or human built “kingdoms” that seek to rule our lives).
We should no longer have any investment in their agendas, but in Christ’s. Seeking things that are above is all about re-orienting our allegiances to the Lordship of the crucified Christ, so that Christ’s lordship might be known and experienced in this life now.
Christ in this letter is not just another divine intermediary by which one can attain union with the divine. For so many people still today, Jesus is a means to heaven. The manifestation of the mystery of God in Christ does not condone an escape from the earthly life, it is an embrace of this earthly life for the purpose of transformation and renewal. The hope of glory is not in heaven, it is in the body of Christ.
Paul goes on in Colossians 3 to talk about the present life, exhorting to put off the old life because those in Christ have died and have been raised with Christ. We are not waiting around for Christ to be revealed, and so also for ourselves to be found, as if we are lost in the middle awaiting the coming of Christ.
Our lives are so wrapped up in our union with Christ that where we once were “made manifest” in all sorts of other pursuits, now we cannot be made manifest apart from the ongoing work of the crucified Lord who reigns, who has been raised for us, and we in him and he in us, today.
Loving Father help me to understand the precious relationship I have with Christ and what it means to be in Christ and to be seated with Him in heavenly places. Help me to set my heart on the wonderful things that You have prepared for those that love You, and more and more may I be a reflection of Christ to all those I meet today, in His name, pray AMEN.