“Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
(Colossians 3.1-3, NET)
It’s hard not to worry with the way the world is right now, isn’t it? There is not much comfort or encouragement to be found where most of us look many times a day…We open our phones, on average, a few times an hour and hope to find something to make our day better, but do we? Maybe there’s a cheap laugh or something to think on for a minute but really there is nothing of substance. As we move into chapter three of Colossians we see a much better recommendation as to where we should be looking for sure and secure encouragement.
First, who is being addressed here at the start of chapter three? Believers are being addressed. Believers who have been raised with Christ points to the new life found by faith in Jesus and demonstrated through the waters of baptism. So then, if that is you, if then you have been raised with Christ, the Word tells us that there are ways that we ought to live now and there are sources of comfort and encouragement available to you. There is one right here today, did you see it?
“Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Our source of comfort and encouragement is above. Our comfort and encouragement comes from your life… hidden with Christ in God. We are seeking the things above and we are going where Christ is, Him already having prepared the way for us (see the logical and theological necessity of your own resurrection from reading 1 Corinthians 15.20-34).
Jesus is now, as we read, seated at the right hand of God. Elsewhere in the Word we read that He is there interceding for you there (Hebrews 7.25). This means that He is getting involved on your behalf and representing us before the Father.
Does the fact that Jesus is sat at the right hand of God praying and interceding for you comfort you in a tumultuous world?
It should!
Just as Esther boldly went into the presence of the King to save her people, so too Jesus is in the presence of God the Father, interceding for you having saved you (Esther 4.15-16).
We very rarely find things we are not looking for, do we (unless that thing is a piece of LEGO stuck in the carpet, then of course we find it) but as a general principle we don’t find things we are not looking for, so, as we head into today I would encourage you to find comfort and encouragement by seeking the things above…keep thinking about thing above. Intentionally make time to seek the Lord today, your ultimate and surest source of comfort and encouragement.
James Travis 