So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is… Set your minds 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. (Col. 3:2-3)
Most of us once played the game “hide and go seek.” We would hide, and the person who was “it” would count to ten and then would try to find us.
Hide and seek are operative words in our life with Christ. We hide from God by trying to lead our own life or by burying ourselves in work, hobbies, or activities. Our hiding might not be deliberate or conscious, but our frantic lives can keep us from seeing that we belong to God.
God sent Jesus to those of us in hiding. As He says, “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Did Jesus only come for the lost? Yes, because we’re all lost without God.
Jesus came to seek and find us. Once found, and once we die to ourselves so that we can be “raised with Christ,” Jesus calls upon us to “seek the things that are above.” “Above” doesn’t mean keeping our heads in the skies. “Above” means keeping our focus on God’s ways, purposes, and desires.
Here’s how the game of “hide and go seek” works with Jesus. We hide. He seeks. Once found, we’re hidden in His death, and just like He rose from the dead so we’ll be raised with Him. Once raised, Jesus calls us to seek the things from above. But our seeking isn’t just for the “things” from above; our seeking must also be for the people who are still lost “below.” Jesus doesn’t want the game to end until everyone hears, “All-y, all-y, all in free.”
The prizefighter Muhammad Ali used to say, “You can run, but you can’t hide.” Without knowing it, he was speaking sound theology.
If we’re trying to run away from God, I encourage us to stop. His seeking us will always out-run, out-last, out-do our abilities to hide. Thanks be to God, the Great Seeker, and the Great Finder.
Reflection Questions:
- How have you tried to run away and hide from God?
- How has God found you? What did God do to bring you closer to Himself and to help you know that you can’t outrun His love?
- What would it mean for you to “set your [mind] on the things that are above”? What would Jesus have you focus on, pray about, do, lean towards?