Your life is completely secure in Christ when you put your trust in Him – or as the Psalmist puts it ‘make your refuge in Him’. (Ps 31:19). The temptation will always be either to live for this world: its pleasures and attractions, the lure of advertising hoardings, the next holiday, our financial plans for security; or to live from this world: our insecurities, our lack of provision, our fears and anxieties over the future, our transient pleasures.

The call here is to live our life with eternity in mind. The reality is that our life on earth, however permanent it may feel at times, is passing (rather too quickly!). However short or long our span of years may be, it is but an infinitesimal (very, very small) amount of time compared to our future reign ‘with Him in glory’.

So, what helps us to live with eternity in mind? I think the writers of the New Testament had a very clear and sharp expectation that Jesus would appear; one day He would come back. There was no doubt about it in their minds (it is referenced in 23 of the 27 books of the New Testament). It was their motivation, their expectation and the context in which they lived their lives. They lived each day as if it were their last – or first in the age to come.

It is by design that the Scriptures end with the promise of Jesus ‘Yes, I am coming soon’ and the response of His people ‘Amen. Come, Lord Jesus’. So, the more we share in the perspective of the early church the more purposeful we are likely to be in our pursuit of the Kingdom and desire to be a servant of the King.

Revelation ends with the prayer ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people’. Here in Colossians 3 Paul goes on to define that word ‘grace’ in terms such as ‘forgive’, ‘put on love’, ‘be thankful’, ‘bear with each other’. As we do these things we demonstrate that Christ really is our life (v.4).

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Application:

You might like to read Colossians 3:5-17 inviting the Holy Spirit to convict or challenge you in growing in Christlikeness.

Prayer:

Father God, thank you that you love me so much that you accept me just the way I am; but thank you that you love me so much more, that you are totally committed to changing me to become more like Jesus. Help me to partner with your Spirit in that process of transformation. In Jesus name. Amen.