Setting Our Affection on Things 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 affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” -Colossians 3:1-4 [KJV]  

The basis for Christian character and conduct, acceptable obedience, fruit unto God, good works, and the proper, God-honoring motivation for this is our union with Christ wherein we died with Him to the guilt of sin and wherein we are risen with Him unto justification and life. To be risen with 
Christ is to be justified, sanctified, and certain to be glorified based on His righteousness alone. 

It is to have His righteousness imputed to us and His life within us – “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10). If we are in a state of justification based on His righteousness alone, we are commanded to "seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." This describes the whole inheritance of grace that Christ has earned for us as our dear Savior and has given to us as our dear Lord. 

We are to seek these things as we already possess them in Christ Who sits at the right hand of God, the place of acceptance, glory and honor. Therefore, in order to have the proper basis, motivation, and goal for Christian character and conduct, the obedience of faith, we must be assured concerning our salvation and final glory based on the shed blood and imputed righteousness of Christ. This is a large part of setting our affections on things above, things that will last forever and ever, not the fleeting and dying things of this earth. 

 

—Pastor Bill Parker

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