Hidden In Christ

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Col 3:1-3
The Higher Aspirations of the Soul

​Here we are given some wise instruction by Paul on what the true Christian should be centering their thoughts and meditation on. The struggle will come when we learn to desire the things of God, more than what the world has to offer. This is when we will find ourselves in conflict many times, with the world, and all it's temptations and empty entertainments. But the rewards to our souls and spirits become priceless to us, and, we finally decide to close the doors to the cheap counterfeits of this world. Paul learned the value of setting his affections on things of God, and heaven, and encourages us, to do the same. What are the benefits? Here are a few to ponder.

“Risen with Christ” (Col_3:1). 1. This relation implies the living union of the soul with Christ.—The apostle had spoken of the soul as dying with Christ, as buried with Him, as quickened with Him; and now he advances another step, and declares that it is also raised with Him. The union between the believer and Christ was so complete that he participates with Christ in all He has done. “Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom_6:4). As the dead body of the man cast into the sepulchre of Elisha revived and stood up the moment it touched the bones of the prophet (2Ki_13:21), so the soul, dead in trespasses and sins, is quickened by believing contact with Christ, and rises into a higher and more glorious life. 2. This relation indicates the nature and tendencies of the soul.—“Risen with Christ: … set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Col_3:1-2). The change involved in union with Christ affects man’s whole nature. It affects not only his practical conduct, but also his intellectual conceptions. He is translated from earth to heaven; and with this translation his point of view is altered, his standard of judgment wholly changed. His aspirations spurn the earthly and transitory, and soar towards the heavenly and eternal. The flies that sport upon the summer stream, while they plunge their bodies in the water, are careful not to wet their wings, so that they may fly again into the sunny air. So, while we are necessarily immersed in “things on the earth,” we should take heed that the wings of our soul are not so clogged as to retard our flight to heaven.
II. The sublime objects of the soul’s higher aspirations.—“Things above” (Col_3:2). 1. Christ is above.—“Where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Col_3:2). This indicates that Christ is exalted to the highest dignity. He is above all angelic powers, whatever their position or rank. The right hand of God also indicates the right hand of power. Thence Christ wields all the authority and power of universal government. “Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour.” He reigns on high in order to carry out to a glorious consummation the work He accomplished on the cross. To Him all hearts turn for love and blessedness, as the flowers turn to the sun. The rudiments of the world have no longer any power to satisfy. The soul ascends to heaven, for where the treasure is there will be the heart also; and the flow of time is rapidly hurrying us on to the moment when we shall be
“Caught up to share The triumph of our Lord.” 2. The source of the greatest spiritual blessings is above.—When Christ ascended into the heavens He received gifts for men; and from His lofty throne He delights to distribute those gifts to the needy sons of men. Thence we receive pardon, the conscious favour of God, holiness of character, comfort in every time of distress, and hope to light the pathway of the future. Of all the blessings laid up for us above, the highest and the best is that which in itself includes all others—the gift of the Holy Ghost. All we want is there. 3. The heavenly home is above.—There is the abode of peace and purity; there temptation has no power, and suffering and sorrow can never enter; there the Saviour reveals His glories and diffuses the joy of His radiant presence; there all the members of the Father’s family assemble from every part of the globe, never more to separate. The soul, burdened with the cares of life, and troubled with multiplied disappointments, yearns for the rest of the heavenly home. The things on the earth can never satisfy the wants of the soul; they are unsuited to it; they are beneath it; and, liberated from their trammels by the resurrection power of Christ, it seeks its true happiness above the stars.
III. The paramount duty of the soul to aspire to the highest good.—Seek, set “your affections on things above” (Col_3:1). A similar expression repeated for the emphasis. You are not only to seek heaven, but also to think heaven. The understanding must be engaged in duly estimating the value of heavenly things, the will in preferring them above all things earthly, the affections in embracing them as the objects to be most evidently desired and loved; in fact, all the powers of the soul must be constantly exercised in the search. The soul, raised from the death of sin, is ever responding to the attractive influence of its risen Lord. “Being thus already risen, every motion of grace is the struggle of the soul for the final consummation—the bird is caged, but the wings are free to flutter within their prison.” The soul is now willing, cheerfully and faithfully, to follow the call of duty, whatever it may entail.
(Excerpts from Sermon texts)

Some lessons learned in this meditation:
The soul is endowed with vast powers and capable of the highest destiny. 
It is sad to witness thousands whose souls rise no higher than the things on the earth. 
The soul can realize its highest aspirations only as it is risen with Christ.

To break this down into clearer terms:
To all hopes of happiness from the present world; and, according to your profession, should feel no more appetite for the things of this life, than he does whose soul is departed into the invisible state.
Your life is hid with Christ in God - Christ is your treasure; and where your treasure is, there is your heart. Christ lives in the bosom of the Father; as your heart is in him, ye also sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. Christ is the life of your souls; and as he is hidden in the bosom of the Father, so are ye, who live through and in him. (Adam Clarke)

The more we come to know Christ, His person, His reality, His company in our daily lives, the more we will desire to be where He is, and desire to seek the things above, where He is seated. The more He becomes a reality in our daily lives, the more the things of this life fades away.
Psa 73:25  Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. 
Psa 73:26  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 

Ascending With the Holy Spirit

These verses in Colossians give a glimpse of what Paul had come to know by experience. A personal, individual relationship of companionship and friendship with Christ, while here in the body. This relationship is learned by those who have strove to inquire diligently for the Presence of God within. When we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who comes in to dwell within us at salvation and by invitation, that personal relationship begins to develop as we open the door of our hearts and souls by prayer, meditation and searching the word of God in our quiet hours with God. Many in history have gone this path, and found it to be a life-long journey of the soul and spirit-longing after the manifest Presence of the Lord, panting after Him, like a starving child. The more we seek Him, and follow after Him, the more He fills us with Himself, and draws us into union with Himself. I've learned He does not promise anything that He doesn't make good. He is faithful to all His promises. But the paradox to this is, those of this world, will never understand this, nor will they want to. You will find yourself more and more, a stranger here, it will become a wasteland to you.

Some who have chosen this path, that I would recommend who have left writings on this subject are Brother Lawrence, John Bunyan, Madam Guyon, Watchman Nee, Joy Dawson, Andrew Murray. These, along with many other's down through the ages, have experienced enough of the reality of the indwelling Spirit, to give an accurate account that God's indwelling within us is worth all the gold this world could offer, and, once you've experienced it, nothing else will satisfy.
​Deu 4:29  But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 
​Lorna Couillard