Colossians 1:5 (NET) Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel
When Karen first heard the gospel, she was a teenager in high school and was not interested in it because it appeared to her that if she accepted the gospel, she was not going to live and enjoy the kind of life she had always desired to live. The believers in her school were so centered on heaven and the kingdom of God that it seemed to her that they did not want to enjoy life here on earth.
After thirty years, Karen had lived life, but she was empty, sad, depressed, and unfulfilled. She had made a lot of money, traveled the world, and lived the kind of life she believed would give her satisfaction, but she found that the more she searched for satisfaction, the more she discovered that she had not found it. She observed that those her high school friends who believed in Jesus and remained were the ones that seemed truly fulfilled and happy in life. Some of them did not have much, but there was this joy and peace they had that words cannot describe. Karen was willing to give anything to enjoy such peace.
After deciding to try Jesus out, she started attending church services and was now desiring for a personal relationship with the Lord. The first few churches she visited did not seem to have the answer. All they talked about was “success”, “breakthrough”, and such things, but that was not what she was looking for. She wanted that sincere gospel she heard as a little girl. She knew in her heart that that simple sincere gospel had the answer to the hunger of her soul.
After visiting a small church for one of her high school friend’s retirement thanksgiving, in that little church, she encountered the gospel. This gospel was one that was heaven centric. She saw that their desire in that church was to please the Lord and fulfill His purpose for them on the earth. Even though the members of that church were not wretched, and some of them were really well to do, she could see that in that church, money was not their god.
Do you notice from today’s Bible verse that the hope of our faith [and love] is laid up in heaven and not on the earth?
This earth [and this realm] is too limited to accommodate and express the riches and glory of our inheritance as saints. When believers are earthly-minded and worldly, it limits their capacity to experience and radiate the joy and peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
Go into today remembering that even though we are to live fruitful lives on the earth, we are to be heavenly minded by setting our affection on things above and not on things of this life (see Colossians 3:2).
Prayer: Lord, deliver me from the temptation to squander my faith and hope on the mundane things of this life. Help me to keep my heart stayed on you so that I would enjoy your perfect peace (Isiah 26:3).
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—Abraham Damilola Arigi
Bible In One Year: II Samuel 20-24
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