If you know me, you know I love horses… Especially little ones!
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and if you'll recall, I shared with you earlier in the week a story about the little colts we used to have on our farm. Ken knows my affinity for baby horses, and it's why every evening after work when he drives me home, he likes to take the longer, slower way to our house… the winding road down Malibu Canyon then up the long grade to the backside of the San Fernando Valley where we live. And every evening (unless there's a rush to get home) Ken likes to pull over to the side by the white fences that border on small pasture. In it, are four mares with their four foals, and I just love watching them… swishing their tiny tails… drinking from their mommies… playing with each other.
Ken and I have kept up this ritual for a couple of months now, and I have really noticed them growing. There’s one little guy we’ve named Secretariat – he’s a red-colored colt with white socks and a blaze on his face. Invariably, as we pull away, I always feel a tug, a wistful and nostalgic feeling… like I'm pulling away from something I'm being drawn to and I'll invariably say something to Ken like: “One day, I'll be able to horseback ride again… one day in heaven, I may well be numbered among the saints on horseback that come returning to earth with Jesus on His white horse… who knows?! I know it’s coming. I know it’s just on the horizon… heaven is right around the corner. No more sorrow, paraplegia, no more cancer, wheelchairs, sin, no more pain or death. Sorrow and sighing will flee away and everlasting joy will crown our heads!”
You know how much I enjoy talking and thinking about heaven. It’s why my friend Rainey and I (who helps oversee our radio ministry here at Joni and Friends)… it’s why Rainey and I are memorizing together Colossians chapter 3. I’ve got a little more than 12 or 13 verses under my belt, but I think my favorite part is the first few verses: “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep setting your mind on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died with Christ, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God; when Christ is revealed, you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
Now you tell me, isn’t that a great portion of Scripture? And so, yes, lately I’ve not only been memorizing these verses from Colossians and more, I’ve been meditating on them… thinking, reflecting, ruminating and musing on… heaven! What does it mean to set my mind on things above? As I’ve been pondering that word “set,” it reminds me of the settings on a computer. You know how a computer comes from the factory with its own default settings – and if you don’t like those settings, you can always click on “properties” and go to “preferences” and choose settings more to your liking, like the style of the font, or paragraph spacing or how wide you want your margins.
In the same way, I like to think that people who are without God in their lives have default settings that, once they come to Christ, they need to change: new habits and behaviors, a new way of life and preferences that reflect Jesus as Lord in your life. When I set my mind on things above, I am making a conscious, daily effort to remember that this life is not the only life there is… that the cosmic stakes are high… that everything I do here has a direct bearing on my eternal estate there… and that there is a devil to be avoided, a world to be reached, and a Savior to be honored. Sound good to you? Then join me in a Colossians chapter 3 habit of setting your mind on things above, too.
JONI AND FRIENDS
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Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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