Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
A Hunger For a Glimpse
Pastor Scott
Thursday, June 10, 2004
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"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God."
(Colossians 3:1)
"If ye be risen with Christ..." You can't be risen until you've died, until you've been buried with Christ, until you've been crucified (Romans 6). "If ye been risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ [sits] at the right hand of God" (Col. 3:1). The one indication of personal death and resurrection is the affection in the heavenlies. You can always tell a man who is no longer an earth-dweller by what his real treasures are. I don't just mean material things. Materialism is one of the curses in our nation, but we're not talking only about that. Where is our life? Where is our peace? Where is our trust? We have to ask not only about material things, but are we content in the Lord? Or do we have to have a spouse? Do we have to have someone around all the time? Do we have to have men encouraging us? Thank God that people encouraging us is part of it. As social beings, we all want people in our lives. God has created us that way so don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Is it out of proportion? We want somebody in the natural to hold on to.
The question today is, "Is your life hid with Christ in God?" Is your treasure in the heavenlies? Is your gaze into the heavens? Is that your treasure? Can you truly say you love Him more than mothers and fathers and houses and lands and wives and children? Who has your heart today? You see, until there becomes the daily crucifixion, then we all have the same natural treasures. We all have the same propensity to hold onto those things that are naturally tangible, the opposite of faith, because faith lives in the unseen realm. Faith doesn't need to touch. Faith is not moved by its senses. Faith is moved by the promises of God. Faith is moved by the integrity of God. Faith is the source of a relationship with God. Faith is the power that comes from the resurrected life of having crucified self, emptied ourselves of all personal dependence, totally reliant upon the presence of God, the Unseen One. Where is our life today? Where are we living?
"If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Jesus [is seated] at the right hand of God. Set your affections on [the] things above, not on the things of the earth" (Col. 3:1-2). We find out whether we're living the crucified life by where our affections are, where our emotions are tied up, where our appetites are. What do you really want? I've been fortunate over the years to do a lot of things that are fun. I've gone a lot of places and done a lot of things that are fun, but only ministry is gratifying. I've had a lot of fun, but it never satisfies! It never gratifies. But when your affections are fed by the eternal, when everything in you desires that visitation of God, you can have full disclosure of everything else that exists, but it doesn't satisfy. But just to catch a glimpse of the hinder parts of God will change you for a lifetime! Just to be in the cleft of the rock and have God pass by to get a glimpse of His hinder parts is more valuable than all of the knowledge and experience that the world can afford us. Do you have that kind of a hunger to get a glimpse of God? The fragrance of the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley, is what satisfies.