Set your minds on things that are above…For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ…appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Colossians 3:1-17
Anyone who reads Scripture carefully can discern a division of human history into two main epochs: the present era and the age to come, each having different characteristics. The present era, the time since Adam’s fall, is an age marked by sin, disobedience, and death with the thoughts and intents of humanity being evil and wickedness has great power across the universe. The age to come, on the other hand, is an everlasting era of perfect righteousness. Those who have trusted in the one true God and covenant Lord of Israel will shine brightly and purely like the sun as they live in a renewed creation where righteousness dwells. Even though the world is waiting for the age to come, part of the good news for the Christian is that those who love Christ Jesus will experience, in this present age, partially the life of the future era. Jesus’ first coming brought the future into the present for the believer, and Christians have the Holy Spirit, who keeps them from submitting to the desires of the flesh as they walk by the Lord’s power. Walking by the Spirit of Christ occurs as Christians recall that they have “died and risen” with Christ, shaping our lives after the pattern of kingdom living that He exemplified for us. On the other hand, the unsaved of the world perpetually end up repeating the same wicked mistakes of the past. The unregenerate deny that kingdom ethics, faith, hope, and love, are the ethics of the future. The church’s true identity, those who inherit the earth in the age to come, is hidden with Christ in God. Unbelievers are blind to God’s true purposes for creation; they cannot see that life in the future will fulfill the Lord’s unchanging standards of righteousness. Without Divine Grace, they will always view Christians as hopelessly backward. Christians should remember that the future does indeed belong to those who take up the cross and follow Jesus. For when Christ returns, our status as those to whom the future belongs will be revealed for all to see, to our glory and to the shame of those who love their sin and not the Savior. The world sees Christians as ignorant, backward, and evil because God has concealed our identity to all except those who trust His only begotten Son. Because of the sin that still clings to Christians, though, there are times when Christians cannot see that God’s ways alone make up the future. They are tempted to compromise. Let us recall that our true identity is hidden in the Lord and that goodness, as God defines it, will last forever.
Source: S C Ball February 27, 2024
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