Keep Seeking the Things That Are Above

Dear Weekly Readers! 

Please find the below article by Pastor Wayne Juntunen.   I hope and pray it strengthens and encourages you in your faith!

May God Bless your Week!  John R.

"KEEP SEEKING THE THINGS THAT ARE ABOVE..."

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth." (Col. 3:1,2)

Because of our carnal nature, we tend to be earth-bound.  If, in truth, we are risen with Christ; that is, we are living and walking in the Spirit and not the flesh, it follows that we are to keep seeking the things that are above.  Our new birth is only the beginning of our walk of faith.  God's desire is that we be transformed into the image of Christ. "...whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom. 8:29).  This does not take place automatically.  It is a continuous and constant "seeking those things that are above." 

What this means is all that Christ has achieved and won for us through His incarnation, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension.  The life of a true believer in Christ is a day-by-day walk of intimate fellowship with Christ.  The reason the Apostle Paul exhorts us to do this "seeking" is due to the fact that we still have this carnal nature that wants to live its own life apart from Christ.  It is the battle that continually goes on between the "flesh and the spirit" as Paul wrote in Galatians 5:17, "...the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh." 

In order that we be "victors in this strife", we need to continually be "looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).  What this means in our real, ordinary, daily life is that we maintain an on-going life of prayer with our Savior.  This prayer-life is not necessarily talking to Lord.  Rather it is our "mind-set" in which we are mindful of all he has done for us, all his promises that are part of our inheritance in Christ, and a realization of his constant presence with us as we go through our daily tasks, plans and purposes, challenges, trials, stress, joys and sorrows.

Since it is in Christ that "we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28), seeking the things where Christ is enthroned in all authority, power, and glory ought to be the most natural thing for us to do as His redeemed bride. "Seeking" implies our desire and longing for Christ to be our first and foremost love.  It is a Holy Spirit passion for Christ's power and influence to have dominion in us and over us in all we do and say.

The primary reason for this "seeking" is simply the fact that apart from Christ "we can do nothing" (Jn. 15:5).  The opposite truth is that we can do all things through Christ who strengths us (Philippians 4:13).  This being true, Satan, the world, and our own flesh and blood form a powerful triad to hinder us from such a total surrender to our Lord and King.

The Triune God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--is seeking throughout this wide world for those "whose hearts are perfect toward him" (2 Chronicles 16:9).  We so easily sing, "Lord, you are my All in all."  Is it truly so for all or any of us?  Is it possible that we worship the Lord with our lips but our hearts are far from him?  (Matthew 15:8).

O Lord, forgive us for pretending we love you above all things!  Wash us in the blood of Jesus for not thinking about, and failing to seek those things that are above!  Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us! Rekindle in our hearts a passionate desire for all your riches in Christ, and move us to diligently, consistently, and faithfully desire that your presence and power would dominate our lives!  We thank you, Father, that you desire to reveal yourself to us and others that all men would know you are the One and only true God to whom belongs honor and wisdom, and glory and power now and forever, Amen!