Meditation: Joan Boney
Col. 3:3 ... For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
The flesh wants to be noticed, to be singled out, to be important ... in one way or another.
I have noticed, when I go out among people, how unimportant I am to them. They have no idea I am a carrier of great treasure being of God. They see me as an old person who has nothing to contribute and therefore to be ignored when possible.
We, who are of God, are hidden from the world, much as the WORD is hidden from them.
We are, in fact, hid behind Christ, behind the Word ... almost invisible to the groups of people that gather in our neighborhoods.
We are dead ... and sometimes that odor of death comes off us to them ... and they pull back from us ...
II Cor. 2 ... Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 15For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
The Word of God separates us from the world. Because of the Word given us by God we do not fit in with the world. We are going an opposite way from them. We will never fit in because God has caused us by HIS Word to be a peculiar people to Himself.
We are dead to the world ... we are hidden from the world ...
hidden:
- kept out of sight
- concealed from the view or notice of others
- prevented from being seen
Col. 3:4 ... When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Therefore we "mortify" those sins of the flesh we once did ... we are dead... We no longer live as those in the world as we did when we were of the world before the Word came to us.
Col. 3:9-10 ... ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
God reveals HIMSELF to us by THE WORD and this changes us into the image of HIM ...
We are then changed from the world ... we are dead to the world and alive to God ... so we will never fit in with the gang ... Things important to them are no longer important to us. We might even be avoiding those things they desire to see. (I rarely see a newscast and never see a newspaper ... They follow after such and are constantly stirred up and concerned over things they hear and see ... I know these are harmful and avoid such.)
The Word of God is important to me. Keeping myself in the faith is important to me. Building myself up in faith in God and what HE promises is important to me.
Most of the world doesn't even know the Word of God exists. They live according to their own flesh and the desires of others. We are certainly dead to them.
I Jn. 5 ... And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 20And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. 21Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
===============Meditation:
Pam Padgett
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. 2 Set your affection on
things above, not on things on the earth.
I have been risen with Christ, my life is no longer of this world ... no longer have to serve sin, the flesh, fears, dead works ... no longer have to do things according to the
ways of this world … alive and freed to serve God.
seek those things which are above
seek: attempt to find, desire to obtain, ask for, search for .....
God's word to me
what does God want me to do in each matter
provision that God provides
God's mercy
wisdom from God
help from God
God's direction and guidance in what I'm dealing with
These are things to think about and focus on, setting my affection on (want to influence and affect me), not things and wisdom of this world