Ascending into His Presence....

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is” ....  Colossians 3:1To resurrected with Christ leads to the joy that is above. Paul challenges us to to be where Christ is, even the very things that are above! After the resurrection we have been called to live in “His Presence.” Wherever Christ is we have a right to be.Through His death and resurrection Christ opened the way for us to enter into the very “Real Presence” of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Thus to seek those things that are above where Christ sits is to seek perpetual being in the Presence of God, which became our inheritance through Christ.To live in the “Presence” of God, is the secret of happiness provided by Christ for us in the midst of the sorrows of this world. Once we grasp not merely intellectually, but experientially this inner peace that transcends the this world, we will move beyond the trappings of this world.This “Presence” is found in prayer, prayer in that encounters the warmth, peace and joy of realized intimacy with the Trinity. Yes we groan with the  confines of our flesh. Thus our prayers are mixed with tears and we experience both the joy of His Presence and the pain of our own weaknesses and frailty.It is not possible for a man to seek those things that are above and still covet what is in his hands. We have been cautioned about the double-minded tendency of fallen humanity, and so we must focus our lives upon those things that are higher than this existence.Christ endured the crucifixion for the joy that lay ahead, the joy of our being joined to Him in the mystery of both His death and His resurrection, so that we might also be present with Him in His Glory.The pains of the cross were bearable because of the crown of resurrection, but the resurrection also leads to the ascension of the throne room of Heaven above. It is there that the joy of the Lord is realized. It is here in His Glory where we belong. Where we know Him and realized the reality of who and whose we are for all eternity. We many times have settled for the freedom of resurrection and stop short of realizing the joy of those things that are above.We must remember we are those who are “above and not below,” and continue to seek the union that has been offered to us through Christ.  Amen.