"Eyes Fixed on Eternity"

Colossians 3:1-4 

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not things are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

As believers, we are consistently reminded to die to our flesh daily, pick up our cross, and carry it. To an unbeliever, this may sound like senseless self-deprivation. It’s only when we lean on the inheritance of the promise spoken to Nicodemus in John 3:16, one of the most famous pieces of scripture, that we can truly understand the heart behind starving our flesh. John 3:16 reads, “For this is how God loved the world; He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.” This shows us that the moment we give our lives to Christ, we, in turn, accept our helplessness. The reality is that we are incapable of paying the wages of our own actions, thoughts, or attitudes that don’t align with God’s perfect law. Despite this seeming bleak, our hope rests on the free gift of Jesus’ death and atonement on the cross. The wages of sin is death, and consequentially could only be paid by a perfect sacrifice. A spotless sacrifice; one which God promised to provide the moment sin entered into this world. Because Jesus fulfilled God’s promise and became our redeemer, we now owe our lives to Him. Part of that exchange was the gift of the Holy Spirit, which gives us the power to now do what was once impossible. We are now able to live lives pleasing to God. We were given a second chance, an opportunity to live how we were made to live, in constant and genuine worship to God. We were given new life; eternal life. Unfortunately, we remain foreigners of a wicked world we do not belong to for the time being. These are the reasons for our existence and why we must continue to die to our flesh. Even still, our eyes are consistently blinded by earthly circumstances and our struggles to do what is right. This is why Paul tells the church in Colossi to “set your sights on the realities of heaven.” Life’s difficulties do not change the truth of where our citizenship lies. We have died to the things of this earth and our hope is now in the eternal life gifted to us by the sacrifice of Christ. Though our struggles are heavy today, we know where our destiny lies. So, in the same Spirit by which Paul spoke and wrote in, the same one which Jesus fills us with, I say to you: have your EYES FIXED ON ETERNITY