“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” Colossians 3:1
With regard to walking with Christ, living on this earth in communion with Him, trusting the Father for the coming of the kingdom and the doing of His will, there are great truths which must be grasped and held on to. These truths, and the believer’s response to them, will in great part determine the experience of a victorious, overcoming life in Christ. What are these truths?
First, the truth we must grasp is that Christ accomplishes an invisible work in the heart of an individual by bringing him or her to a saving knowledge of Him. As Jesus illustrated to Nicodemus in the gospel of John, the spirit moves like the wind. It cannot be seen, yet it leaves behind the effects and testimony of His working. We do not see the Spirit, only the effects of His moving. The responsibility of the believer is not to SEE the Spirit, but to walk by faith in Christ.
Secondly, we must embrace the truth that our old life in Adam, where sin, self, and Satan reigned, has been put to death IN Christ. When Christ was crucified, that old life, and everything that pertained to it, died, and was buried, in the sight of God. This is important to know and grasp, for our enemy will often seek to persuade the believer, though a new creation IN Christ, to live by the old principles, traditions, and philosophies of the old life, that which has its origin in this world. The Spirit of God will NOT fully bless such a perspective and endeavor. The new life IN Christ is one where the resurrection of Christ not only proved His Divinity, and victory over sin and Satan, but it also revealed that the new man was raised up with Christ and is now seated with Him in heavenly places. The Christian’s challenge, and mandate, is to live according to the truth of the full salvation in Christ, receiving from Him everything, that He will be glorified on this earth in us until Christ comes.
Lastly, in the spiritual battle in which the believer is engaged, the enemy of our souls is ever seeking to neutralize him. He does this by seeking to separate him from Christ in his mind and heart. If ever he can persuade the believer that Christ has forsaken him, that he has been “cast away,” or that God will not meet him in his need, then fear will replace faith. However, if the believer takes his stand upon the truth of his eternal union with Christ, evermore seated with Him in heavenly places, complete in Him in every way, then he can overcome the accusations, even condemnation, of the enemy. Staying in one’s tank, IN Christ, by faith in God according to His word, is essential to victorious living.
Dear Father, Teach us Thy ways. In Jesus’ name, Amen.