LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (2)

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory” (Colossians 3:1-4 NLT).

Our new birth confers on us the right to participate in the life of glory with Christ. When we were born again by receiving the forgiveness of sins God offers us in Christ, God counted it for us as death and resurrection experience. By believing in Christ and accepting Him as Saviour implies an exchange of your life for His. Hence, Christ did not only die for you as a person, He died as you! Therefore, the Bible declares, “For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”  How did you die? You died in Christ because He died as you. Because Christ died as you, you are now empowered to live as Him.  On the strength of this eternal and permanent transaction, John was bold to declare, “And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world” (1 John 4:17 NLT).  Did you capture the reason the apostle gave as to why we should live with confidence in view of glory? “Because we live like Jesus here in this world.”  Did you get it?  You live like Jesus here in this world. Can this be true?  If indeed it is true, how do I live like Jesus here in this world?

Now listen to Paul:

Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.(Galatians 2:20 Message).

Our Lord Jesus Christ now lives His life through me and in me. Now, I live in Him, move in Him and derive my being in Him. I like the way the Message Bible rendered this thought: “We live and move in him, can’t get away from him!...”(Acts 17:28).  As believers, we exist only in Christ. As the fish has no life outside of the water, so we do not have any life outside of Christ. How do we live in Him? We live by trusting Him and resting our hope on the eternal validity of His finished work for our redemption.  Therefore, we have total freedom to live for God’s pleasure in view of His coming eternal glory. 

Our only preoccupation now should be to “set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand.” This means that we should now live on earth looking up to heaven. Nothing should matter to us apart from that which is taking place in the heaven. We catch initiatives from heaven and implement them here on earth. In this way, we will be living true to our real destiny as citizens of God’s kingdom. The book of Hebrews explained further what setting our sight on the realities of heaven entails. “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honour beside God’s throne” (Hebrews 12:2 NLT). If God commands us to keep our eyes on Jesus, He meant for us to be able to see Him now. Similarly, if God commands us to set our sight on the realities of heaven, He meant for us to see those realities and for them to determine how we live on earth; thus, living with eternity in view!

Finally, we learn to live in the view of glory by keeping the realities of heaven alive in our thought.  “Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.”  Intentionally choose to approach things on earth from heaven’s point of view. Take the case of success. Why should you work hard to succeed in everything you do?  Your reasons must be that there is no failure in heaven and because Jesus did everything well (Mark 7:37).  May the Lord so fill your heart with heavenly realities that it shows in your earthly life now even as you live in the view of the coming glory in Jesus’ Name.