The greatest realities — the most real things in life — are not what we see in the media but what God has given us and where He has placed us. These are:
1. A New Kind of Life.
Life not as we know it, but as our Lord experienced it. We received that life when we were “born again” — “born from above” — by the Spirit of God and were “raised” spiritually from our old dead-to-God lives after being baptized in water. We will be raised physically at Christ’s return (Ephesians 2:4-6 & First Thessalonians 4:16-17).
2. A New Level of Living.
“Seated with him.” Jesus was raised “far above” all principality and authority and might and dominion, and every name that is named…” We rose from water baptism and so identify with Jesus and our status “in him” at the right hand of God (Ephesians 1:21-23). This means that our position “down here” is that of every other human being, but that “up there” we are above the sins, cares, anxieties and fears that we once lived in. Head in the clouds, feet on the ground — that’s us!
3. A New Authority in Life.
“Authority over the works of the devil.” This authority belongs to every believer in the Name of Jesus. This Power of Attorney lasts for a lifetime. In the Name of Jesus, we have authority to do the same things that Jesus did. (John 14:12; Mark 16:17-18) The kind of things we read about in the Acts of the Apostles.
We do not deny the realities of life, but our position ‘above’ them in the risen Christ gives us authority and power over them. Fears, failures, stresses, and anxieties: I’m not under them, I’m over them because of who and where and what I am “in Christ” –and so too are you! But don’t just know it — experience it by using the Lord’s Name as your authority.