Lesson 13: Your New Identity Hidden in Christ
Question 1
Hi friends, it’s so good to be sharing our lives with you and more importantly God’s amazing and powerful Word. In our last lesson we saw the necessity and benefits of two being bound together with the most powerful threefold cord, how we are woven, united and twisted together through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Today, we are going to be studying how our new lives and marriages are hidden in Christ. Read along with us as we study through the verses in Colossians.
“Since, then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:1-5 NIV
Sylvia wrote; "One of the areas of our marriage that I was sharing with my husband about when writing this lesson regarding Colossians 3, was how important it is to keep our minds and hearts set on things above. The fleshly attitude that I carried for many years weighed our marriage down, it also robbed us of a lot of joyful opportunities with ourselves and our children. I also believe that it pushed my husband away from loving me the way I wanted and needed to be loved. If I was seated at the right hand of God, what would my demeanor present? If I was seated at the right hand of God, how would my words emulate love? And if I was seated at the right hand of God, what would my attitude reflect?"
Let’s continue on and look now at verse 2 in Colossians 3 together: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things”. Colossians 3:2
Erick wrote; "For the first 17 years of our marriage we ‘set our hearts’ on ‘things below’ rather than setting them on ‘things above’ where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. No wonder we had so much trouble and turmoil in our marriage. I was not loving Sylvia as she deserved nor could I love her as Christ loved the church. In order for one to have ‘been raised with Christ’ would require that one would first have to die with Christ. Without the death of our old nature there can be no rising of the new, as our hearts will always be set on self, sin, and under Satan's power always focusing on what we want, having ‘our hearts set’ on things below."