Monday, February 3, 2025

          GPS is a wonderful invention.  These letters stand for global positioning system.  For many of us, GPS has proven to be a reliable and consistent way of navigating from one place to another.  Typing in an address and letting technology guide you is much easier than dealing with maps, memory or meandering your way to your destination.  We often do not think of GPS in a spiritual sense but we easily could.  There is a connection between physical and spiritual journeys and destinations.  Colossians 3:1-4 serves as just such a spiritual feature—a spiritual navigational system for the heart, mind and life.  Paul wrote, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”  These verses offer some important directional points for us to know as people belonging to the Lord and walking by faith with Him through life.
            First, we can set our eyes on what has been accomplished for believers in Christ.  We have been raised with Christ.  Our baptism reminds us of this practical, spiritual reality.  We have died to the old ways of life and we have been raised to the new life found only in Christ Jesus.  We are not left to wallow or wander in sin.  We have been raised to a new life.  Death cannot hold us back.  The grave cannot contain us.  We have been raised with Him.  It is a promised reality that will come to pass for each of us at some point in the future.  Christ has secured our salvation through His death and resurrection.  The cross still carries decisive power today.
            Second, we are commanded to set our hearts on the things that are above.  We are to be heavenly-minded.  We are to desire the things that bring us closer to Christ.  Remember the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5?  Set your heart on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.  When we seek these things, we are seeking what Christ has for us.  Let your thoughts and motives be influenced and driven by the things that come from the Lord.  In Philippians, Paul wrote, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8). 
            Third, we are told to set our minds on things above.  Let your life be shaped by faith, not feelings.  We are to be formed by divine realities and not human emotions or whims.  Trust God and His Word.  Trust the cross.  Trust the sufficiency of Christ alone.  Fill your mind with the many good things and messages that are found in the Bible.  Let Scripture give guardrails to your life.  We do not pursue spiritual garbage or empty pathways.  We want to renew our minds by immersing ourselves in God’s Word and what He has declared to be true.
            Fourth, the next stop on our spiritual GPS is to remember we have died to the old life and the old ways.  And, yes, that means we have died to sin.  We no longer live or dwell in sin.  Paul wrote rather soberly and starkly...for you have died.  That means we no longer enjoy sin or long for sin.  We no longer take up residence in sin.  We have died to these things.  And fifth, we are now living and hidden with Christ.  We are safely in His care.  Our lives are safe with Him.  We are freed from sin’s snares and Satan’s clutches.  We are hidden behind the cross.  The wrath of God touched the cross but not us.  On Him, every sin was laid.  The enemy, Satan, would love to convince us that we are still guilty—hopelessly guilty before the Lord.  But Christ has satisfied the wrath of God and His death is our liberation.    
            And finally, we will appear with Him again someday.  Christ will come again. And when He comes, we will join with Him.  He died the death that should have been ours.  He lived the life that we have never come close to living.  We are the recipients of incredible hopes and blessings thanks to the Lord and what He has won for us.  As Paul wrote, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17).  The return of Christ is the next event on God’s prophetic calendar for His Son and His Church.    
            We could even think of GPS as God’s Personal Story for each of us.  He knows where He is leading and carrying us.  He knows what lies ahead.  He knows how to get us from today to tomorrow and finally to eternity.  Trust Him fully and walk with Him faithfully!  Have a great Monday!  Remember you can share our worship any time at YouTube.com/FirstBaptistKannapolis.