April 20, 2024 Daily Dose of Discernment

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where He is … not the things of earth. (Colossians 3:1-2)

Paul does not want his readers to be too heavenly-minded and no earthly good. He is not saying that all material things in the world are evil because God created them good and put them there. He is talking about things that bear the purity of the kingdom of heaven.

That same kingdom is coming to earth to sanctify and transfigure it. Jesus, its King, will restore back into the new creation what the devil stole. Being in Christ and part of that new creation, we join Him in His work by rejecting the fleshly deeds of the world: lust, hatred, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, and selfish ambition; and setting our minds on and pursuing whatever is true, honorable, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and worthy of praise. As we do, we hasten the coming of the Lord’s kingdom.