January 2nd

If Ye Then Be Risen

Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Seek Those Things Above

Paul the Apostle exhorts the Colossian Church, and thus exhorts us also, to seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. He is saying that if you are indeed risen with Christ, a new creature in Him, then seek those things that pertain to where Christ is, in heavenly places.

How Do We Seek?

How do we do that? How do we seek things which are above us in the heavenly places? We can find a clue in the definition of the word that is translated here as “seek.” The Thayer’s definition is to seek in order to find out, by thinking, meditating, and reasoning, to enquire into. It’s the same word used in the place where Jesus told His disciples to seek first the kingdom of God.

A Thinking Process

So then, seeking, in the Biblical sense, is a process of thinking, reasoning, and meditating. We have to get some wheels turning, so to speak. Yet we are not talking about a purely mental process. It involves not just the mind, but also the human spirit, the reborn inward man, as well as the Holy Spirit.

The newborn human spirit can think, the Holy Spirit can think, God can think. Thinking is not merely an activity of the human mind, or, that is, the soul of man. The Bible says that we have the mind of Christ. So then, Christ thinks, if He has a mind.

A Higher Level of Thinking

To seek the things which are above requires us to think at a higher level, at a spiritual level. Notice that Paul prefaces his statement with, “If ye then be risen with Christ…” One must be born from above to be able to think at a level that is above natural human thinking. The Bible says that there is a wisdom that is pure and peaceable, and there is a wisdom that is earthly, sensual, and devilish. Our goal is to move our thinking up to the place that is not earthly, but heavenly.

Finding Out Who We Are

Why should we seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God? We should seek them because, according to the Bible, we have been raised us with Christ and made to sit together with Him in heavenly places. That’s where we are. Our spirit is with Him, according to the Bible, there at the right hand of God. We are seated with Him.

To seek those things which are above is to endeavor to discover who we really are and what our life truly is in Him. If that happened automatically, then it would not be necessary for Paul to exhort us to seek those things. We would already know them. We would not have to seek them. But until we do seek them out, we are ignorant of them.

Our Life is in Him

Paul goes on to say that we are dead, and our lives are hidden with Christ in God. He is saying that who you think you are, who you once were, is dead and gone, and that there is a new man in you who is created in righteousness and true holiness, a person who is a child of God, created in His image. But we must take the time and expend the effort to find out about that new man within. When we set our affections on things above, where Christ sits, then we will discover the new man in Christ. For he is seated with Him.

Until we discover who we are in Christ, we will remain under the impression that we are still that other person, the person who has died, the old man. We have identified with Christ’s death in baptism, and we have been raised up in newness of life, or into a new life. Old things have passed away. All things have become new. We are not the same old person we used to be.

Start the seeking process today. Spend some time searching and enquiring into the word of God. Take time to meditate in His word, and allow Him to lead you to the sections of Scripture you need to feed on. Find out who you have become in Christ Jesus. As you do so, the Holy Spirit will begin to reveal the truth of God’s word to your heart, and, as Jesus said would happen, the word will begin to make you free.