Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Recently, I was reminded of what my friend and pastor, Keith Hannah, often said: “Dead men don’t react.” We are living in difficult times. The world system seems to be on a collision course with its own corruptions and degradation of its cannibalistic hierarchy. Eat or be eaten, fight or be destroyed or get it all before someone else gets it first. It is hard to stand back and watch the world self-destruct. We know in our hearts that if those who profess themselves to be wise leaders, advisers, and managers were to let God guide their hearts, the mess could be repaired. However, this is not the way of the world, and we who are in Christ are no longer enlisted in the world’s rank and file. 2Tim. 2:4 No one serving as a soldier entangles himself in the affairs of this life, that he might please the one having enlisted him. We need to realize that we are dead to the world and our lives are lived unto God. Col. 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Dead men do not react to bad news or the fluctuations of the financial system, rumours of war, and a one-world government taking over. We are dead to the world, but we are alive to God. Through the life we have in Christ, we can help bring life to those who are still entangled in the endless pursuit of worldly things. When the world is burning down around us, our reactions should not be as if we have no hope. Jesus said that when we see these things taking place, we should lift our heads high because His coming draws near. Luke 21:28 When these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Don’t be downcast in your heart because of what you see. The world is home to sinners, and they live according to their nature. This is what sinners do: they sin, and the fruit and results of sin manifest all around the world.
There is a strange instruction that Jeremiah writes to the captives who were living in Babylon. They were instructed to be a blessing to the city where they had been enslaved. God said (paraphrased), “Go ahead and live your covenant lives in the midst of the sinners and corruption of the day.” God’s instruction was to go and be a blessing. Jer. 29:7 Also, do good things for the city I sent you to. Pray to the Lord for the city you are living in, because if there is peace in that city, you will have peace also. In conventional thinking, it would seem that Jeremiah’s counsel to the captives would be counterproductive. Why help the enemy? God said that this is how peace is brought to the mess we see taking place. We pray for persecutors and sinners of this world that they, too, may come to know the forgiveness of God.
Our New Testament instruction is no different. We are called to pray for our leaders, regardless of their political leanings. 1Tim. 2:1 First of all, therefore, I exhort entreaties, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings, to be made on behalf of all men 2 for kings and all those being in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. The promise for these important prayers is that we will live in peace. It does not mean that there will be warless peace in the world; it means that in the crises of life, we will walk in His peace. Why does this work? Because dead men don’t react. Prov. 3:25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. When we see the tragedies taking place in the world, our mandate is to stay in peace.
His gift to our hearts is His peace, and this is what gives us life. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it fear. The enemy of our being is constantly trying to provoke a reaction out of our hearts. He only needs to have a few sinners display a few nonsensical antics, and the reactions of some Christians are swift and sometimes idiotic. If Satan can get those who follow Jesus to argue and fight on the devil’s level, then all that will come out is reactionary frustration and overwhelming feelings of ineptness. We are to act in faith and not react in uncertainty. A conspiracy theorist does not need to prove anything they say. They just say whatever they want and demand that we prove otherwise with hard facts and truth. This is what Satan does. Gen. 3:4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
The hard truth was that God said death would be a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Eve reacted to the devil’s conspiracy rather than using her authority in the Lord to expel him from the garden. We have all fallen for this trick of evil at some time or another. When we start to react in self-righteousness rather than act in Christ’s righteousness, then we find that we are very much alive in the world’s system. The first thing to go is our peace, and then our joy begins to slip away. The skill of learning to be a dead man in Christ while we live in this world is a tricky maneuver. This is why we need to daily come boldly to the throne of grace and obtain mercy for the day we are living in. Through prayer and a submissive obedience to our Heavenly Father, there is wonderful hope of a resurrection from the dead to those who are in Christ. Now that is a promise to act upon.
Amen. Strong word for the times we are in. Thank you, friend.
Norm,
Thank you 🙏
A reminder to bring it all to his feet 👣 surrender it to him .
We have the authority and the dominion to say NO!
Amen
Bingo ! What an incredible reading for the day to follow Remembrance Day ❤️