Affirmation Monday – One Foot In Heaven

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

— Colossians 3:1

What do we do when our heart is breaking? Is there any pain as great?

We live in bodies that are obsessed with our own needs and wants. Our emotional vision is short-sighted. We see what we think is right, what we need, what we want. But our vision is earthbound. Only God knows what is best.

Because of this myopic condition we sometimes take great risks. In our need for an emotional connection we tend to entrust our hearts to people instead of God.

Sometimes the myopic object of our trust may not realize what they have been given. In their short-sightedness, like all of us, they see only what they need and want. For a time, having your trust, being the object of your heart’s affection, might feel good. But when something else comes along that catches their eye, your heart is left behind.

Having given our heart to one who hurts us is not corrected with a snap of the fingers. The pain and bleeding are a long time in stopping. Wounds are easily reopened. Healing is slow.

In his letter to the Colossians Paul is discussing the “elemental” forces of this world. He writes, “See to it that no one takes you captive by hollow and deceptive philosophy….”* But that is not the only danger we face. Giving our heart to the earthbound is dabbling in a different kind of captivity.

Being very familiar with betrayal, having been hunted like an animal by his Jewish brothers, Paul knows about heartache. He writes,

“Since then, you have been raised with Christ….”

What an incredible promise! God gives us two feet, and spiritually speaking, one is already in heaven with Jesus.

The precursor to this wonderful affirmation is that we have also died with Christ.** In dying with Christ we die to this world, even while we are still bound to this world. It is a paradox that is only resolved when we leave the bonds of this life and join our Lord.

Until then, Paul offers this advice: “Set your heart on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”

Affirmation: To be raised with Christ is to be with him.

Food for Thought: How does setting our hearts on “things above” protect us while we are here on earth?

* Colossians 2:8

** Colossians 2: 20