A little bit of the heavenly in today's 'earthly'

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3)

The word 'since' suggests a completed act - it is based on something having happened. Between something happening (you having said yes to Jesus) and the present time, you have been raised to new life. You are no longer living according to the same standards, desires, or plans. Now we set our sights on something 'higher' than we ever set them before. Our focus changes - we no longer maintain an 'earthly only' focus but learn how to refocus our attention on Christ. 

Too many times, we focus on the earthly things and don't spend very much time at all focusing on the things God wants us to learn about him. We get consumed by jobs, household chores, and all the running around that is required to 'live life' on this earth, all the while making very little time to turn our focus toward him. Then we wonder why our lives are all jumbled up and the mess before us has occurred. Could it be we have been too 'earthly focused'?

Set your sights on the realities of heaven - those are words of instruction. We aren't to just 'occasionally' consider the holiness of God and the desires of his heart. We are to 'set our sights' on those things. When the focus is right, the aim will be true! The fact is that we have died to this life on this earth, but we still live on this earth, so maybe that is why we are so 'conflicted' in our focus. It isn't that God is asking us to go live some 'monastic existence'. He is asking us to remember to incorporate him into our lives right here on this earth.

Whatever your 'focus' is today - laundry, housecleaning, getting that big project up and started, fixing that broken thing - turn it first to Christ. When we make him the first part of everything we do, maintaining our focus on his presence with us throughout the day, we find a little bit of the 'heavenly' is brought into our day. We might not struggle so much with whatever 'earthly things' need to get done today if we bring him into the work right alongside us. Just sayin!