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Sound & Season is a daily audio devotional designed to connect the routine moments of life to the rhythms of the Church seasons.
This is Sound and Season. It's Sunday, the fourth week of Lent. Our passage this week comes from Paul's letter to the Colossian church, chapter three, verses one through four. Let us listen carefully, for this is God's word. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Jeffrey Heine:Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Jeffrey Heine:From the death of our death through the death of Christ, we are raised with him. And if we have been raised with him, Paul says we are to seek the things that are where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Our spiritual resurrection in Jesus is so inseparable that our minds are raised, are transformed. We are gifted the mind of Christ so that what we think and seek are the things of heaven. The framework for this seeking of things that are above is that we have been made alive with him.
Jeffrey Heine:And in this new living, our lives are hidden with Christ in God. Hidden so that Christ himself is our life. This is the great thread of redemption that runs through every page of the scriptures. What began with a spiritual death and hiding from God in the garden has become resurrected life hidden in God himself. It is not a mere second chance at living holy.
Jeffrey Heine:It is the gift of union with the one who is holy forever. It is the appearing of life, your new life, in all his glory. How can we go back to setting our minds on the things of the earth? For only when our minds are set on Christ, seeking the things that are above, can we be of any earthly good. Only in seeking his kingdom, can we truly love thy neighbor and serve thy neighborhood.
Jeffrey Heine:Only with the mind of Christ, can we let go of the pride, the selfishness, the greed, the anger, the prejudice that divide and distract us. And then, tend to the broken and sin sick world with mercy that only comes from above. For we have died, and our lives are hidden with Christ in God. This gift is victory, not only over the grave, but over ourselves. Lord, hear our prayer, and let our cry come to you.
Jeffrey Heine:Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, who in the blood of Christ established the new covenant of reconciliation, this Lent grant us the faith to trust in Jesus above all else. Strengthen our hope in our resurrected King and fill us with your blessed Holy Spirit. Our mighty savior, the one who breathes new life into dry bones, help us, oh Lord, to trust in your unshakable character and power. For you are the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Jeffrey Heine:Help us to celebrate in the promised work of Christ which is playing out before us now. Oh, lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. And now, our meditation companion from composer Kyle Carpenter and his Lenten instrumental suite, Tienambre.
Jeffrey Heine:Here is drifting.