FROM YOUR PASTOR’S HEART February 19,2024

I can tell that today is Monday by the way my day started. On my way to my office at the church, I decided to swing by the bank. As I pulled into the parking lot, it hit me that today is also President’s Day! Like many government offices and most schools, the bank is closed for the holiday. If this was a one-time thing, I wouldn’t be too worried. Yet, my mind seems to keep slipping at this point in my life. I often compare my job to the circus man keeping the plates spinning. I am finding it harder to keep them all going!

Part of the problem is that I have too much on my mind. I started reflecting on Paul’s teaching in Colossians 3:2, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” It is easy for us to become so bogged down in what is happening in this world that we lose sight of what is truly important. Paul started this chapter with these words: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” Rising with Christ expresses the positive side of God’s deliverance of man from sin. The resurrection of Christ is a picture of what happens to a person at conversion. Jesus was raised from the dead to live in a new realm of existence. The Christian is raised by the power of God to live a new kind of life. We know that Christ’s resurrection is assurance that we, too, will be raised at the end of life. Yet, it also reflects the new life that we are to be living now, following in His footsteps!

Paul said that rising with Christ changes our way of thinking. As believers, we start to think about the right things instead of the wrong things. Paul knew the importance of devoting our attention to “things above,” so that we are not distracted by worldly things. He understood that the mind of man is the battleground of his behavior. Our actions grow from the seeds of our thoughts. That is why it is so important to keep our minds and our hearts focused on the Lord and what He has for us to do, rather than to get drawn into the hectic busyness of this world.

I am determined to focus my attention on the plates that God put before me, to keep them spinning for His glory! Those other plates can wait until another day. The bank will be opened tomorrow and the world will keep on going without my deposit being made today. There are much more important things, including the precious people God placed under my care, to occupy my mind! I urge you to join me and “set your mind on the things which are above.” I love you all!

Serving in love,

Bro. Jim