Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of Mark Harris singing, Find Your Wings, posing the hope we hold for those who come after us … to find their hope and future in Christ … FOREVER!!
Highlight Passage: Colossians 3: 2 [NKJV] …
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
… God’s will for our future … about as clear as it can be stated.
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Highlight Context – Colossians 3:1-17 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul exhorting Christians (that’s you and me as well) to live for Christlikeness, striving always toward the hope we have our eternal future with our Lord.
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Reference Passage #1 - John 17:20-26 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus prays for the well being of His future disciples. - HEY! - That’s you and me!!
Reference Passage #2 - Romans 8:37-39 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… When we’re in Christ, nothing can separate us from the eternal hope we have in His finished work.
Reference Passage #3 - 1st Corinthians 15:50-58[NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Life may be great - or not so great - but look ahead to what is to come!
Reference Passage #4 - Philippians 3: 12-14[NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul was always looking forward to the prize ahead, … his eternity with his Lord.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Joe Stowell, reflected on this time of year joyously. He remembered how his family used to celebrate “March Madness,” when the Stowell family would anticipate the annual ritual of the NCAA basketball tournament, … rooting for their team’s victories or agonizing over their losses.
And Stawell’s reflections took me back to my youth in Indiana, where Hoosier “roundball” fans were even more passionate at this time of year over the state high-school basketball tourney. They call it “Hoosier Hysteria” in Indiana; and March is the month when everyone dreams of their home team being crowned State Champ … or at least beating a local rival in the first round of the tournament.
But Stowell was using this earthly basketball analogy to reflect on how we can put our hope in earthly entities rather than focusing on a hope which rises far beyond our earthly pursuits or dreams; and that is the eternal hope we Christians have in our here-and-now relationship with Christ; … but even more the hope we have for our heavenly relationship with our Lord. In other words, for rabid basketball fans there are dreams that go way beyond March Madness or Hoosier Hysteria (see attached photo).
I really do hope any reader here will take the time to take in the song video linked above as was as to meditate on the Scriptures provided by the ODB entry and my own reflections. And in the latter you’ll read of the hope that Christ had for His disciples (you and me) when He prayed for us (see the John 17 passage). You’ll also read how the Apostle Paul repetitively tried to get his fellow Christians to realize just what would lie ahead for those of us who have our hope in Christ’s resurrection and now in His intercession on our behalf until we’re with Him in Glory.
As I write this, it’s HOLY WEEK, where Christians all over the world are reflecting on the death and resurrection of our Lord from His finished work on the cross, … the atoning work which allows me to have the hope I have in Christ. And that, my friends, goes WAY BEYOND any passion I might hold for a basketball team or anything I might pursue in this life.
How about you? Are you looking forward to the glory we will have eternally with Christ?
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Come soon, Lord! I want to be with You. But in the meantime, use me for Your glory here on earth. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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