Set Above

“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…Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature…clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…And over all these virtues put on love, which binds then all together in perfect unity.” Col. 3:1-3, 5, 12, 14

What a year it has been! It has been a year where I dressed myself in things that were never meant to even hang in my closet. It has been a year wherein many days my mind and heart resided in the lower nature of my soul. It has been a year where the image of Christ was hidden in some of my responses. It has been a year where I wore my super hero cape proudly only to fall short every time. Boy, am I ready to put to death that which belongs to my earthly nature and hang up my cape!

‘To set’ is to solidify, become permanent, decide on something and establish example or standard. I love the last definition. The sub-definition under the last one is ‘to establish something that others have to emulate, follow to try to beat.’ Christ has established His image that each of us must try to live by, thereby showing Him to others around us.

We are to remove all garments of the flesh for which we wear and clothe ourselves in His example so that He will be visible to others. Another definition of setting something is ‘to heal up and become solid after being broken.’ The things we learn when going through our dark valleys will break us, bend us but move us from the worldly to the spiritual. It will set us for future journeys and impose upon us something that determines our future direction.

With my father-in-law’s death I am confident of his new life and praying for my new life...a life emptied out of the flesh for the most part, and clothed with a new cape, a cape of Christ’s love in a renewed life.