Native Bravery

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

 Colossians 3:1-3

An old story goes that there was a young Native American warrior going through initiation into manhood as part of the tribe. The initiation for this young man, as for the other men, was that he be tied to a tree on the top of a nearby mountain and survive through the brutal cold of the night. As the young man stood there, tied up to the tree, off in the distance he saw the light of a fire. Gazing at the fire, he imagined its warmth as the night set in and the air became frigid. All through the night the fire burned, and the brave young warrior kept his eyes on the fire and his memory of its warmth as the means of his survival. He made it through the night and the fire, though distant, served as his source of mental strength.

How are you doing with the coldness of life in a sinful world? I want to encourage you today in a means akin to the young man of the story to set your eyes on the warmth and radiance of your Savior. Jesus Christ died the death you should have died, forgave you of your sins, gave you hope and ensured the Holy Spirit’s presence who now resides within you. Take your eyes off of Him, and you may be overcome by the swirl of emotions that ensue with life as a sinner (though saved by grace) in a world full of sinners that is lost unto itself.

“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Many times over, the Bible stresses to us that our identity is not merely a loose association with God, but rather, we are united with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. His righteous record was placed upon our account, God treating us as though we’d never sinned. We forget this constantly, don’t we? “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love...”

Let me take just another moment here to remind you and me of three positional truths regarding our standing with God. We are sanctified, or set apart before God, in these three ways: positionally, progressively, and perfectly. Positionally, though we are still sinful, we are justified in the sight of God, declared righteous. Progressively, we are being set apart from sin, God both working within us and calling us to holy living and as we grow and change, the old man fades as he dies. Clearly, this is no easy feat; it takes a lifetime to purge the old man and even on our death beds, we still find ourselves…sinful. Jesus is our hope in life and death. Our glory though is that one day, we will be perfectly sanctified: no longer sinners and truth be told, not even having the ability to sin any longer. We will be perfect in His sight, not just positionally, but also in that day, practically. Between the positional and the perfect, though, is the progressive, which is the gut-wrenching, idol-removing, self-wrestling match we enter into on a daily basis. You may or may not be weary today, but hold out: God’s got you.

Put your life in the context of your sanctification, and remember to keep your eyes on Jesus, your heart kept warm by the love of Him as you see Him through His word and prayer and His work around you and in you. Be braver than lions, my friends. God is working on you even when you don’t feel it, even when you don’t see it, even when you are trudging along in the valleys of life; God is for you. Though you aren’t there yet, if you’re a believer, you are a native of Heaven.

Sam Stringer

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.