«　WEEK 6　DAY 5　»

　　Col. 3:1-2 …Seek the things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things which are above…

　　Heb. 8:1 …We have such a High Priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.

　　Rev. 5:6 And I saw in the midst of the throne…a Lamb standing as having just been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God…

　　[Colossians 3:1-4] refers to our living…. We are not to live in an earthly way or in a worldly way. Instead, we should live in a heavenly way, seek the things which are above, and set our mind on them.

　　The Lord Jesus has two types of ministries, His ministry on earth before His resurrection and His ministry in heaven…. According to Hebrews 1:3, having finished His ministry on earth, the Lord sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Although His earthly ministry has been completed, His ministry in heaven is still going on. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 523-524)

　　Christ today is ministering in a higher and more extensive way. As the High Priest, He intercedes for us and cares for all the churches, transmitting into them the heavenly supply. Christ is more busy now than when He was on earth. On earth He cared mainly for His disciples. But in heaven He is caring for a great many churches and for millions of saints. Not only does He intercede for us as the High Priest, but He ministers on our behalf as the heavenly Minister. Furthermore, according to Revelation 5, He as the heavenly Administrator is executing God's universal government. He is the Lamb with seven eyes carrying out God's administration. As the High Priest, He intercedes; as the heavenly Minister, He ministers; as the Redeemer with the seven eyes of God, He administers the government of God for the accomplishment of God's purpose. These are the things above on which we are to set our mind.

　　Christ is not idle. He is interceding, ministering, and executing God's administration. We on earth should respond to Christ's activities in heaven. Although Christ in His earthly ministry fully accomplished redemption for our salvation, He has not yet completed the building up of His Body. For the building up of the Body, His ministry in heaven is necessary. It is not the desire of Christ simply to have a large group of saved people; He wants the saved ones to be built up together as His Body. Christ desires a Body, a building, a bride. In order to have the Body built up, Christ must carry on the work of His heavenly ministry.

　　Between Christ in heaven and us on earth there is a divine transmission, a heavenly current. If we are receiving this transmission, we shall respond to Christ's work in heaven. However, if in our experience we are not continuously connected to Him or if we allow insulation to build up between us and Him, the transmission will cease….Day and night, we should be infused with a supply from heaven and experience the transaction between the heavenly Christ and us. We should continually respond to Christ's interceding, ministering, and executing of God's administration.

　　To seek the things above means that we correspond to Christ's heavenly ministry. According to Colossians 3, corresponding to Christ's heavenly ministry by seeking the things above is the first aspect of our Christian walk.

　　Christ today is living in the heavens to intercede for the churches, to minister the heavenly life supply to the saints, and to carry out God's administration… We thank the Lord that a number of those in the local churches today have their receivers open and operating. When they sense that Christ is praying in heaven for a certain matter, they join Him to pray on earth for that very matter. For example, sensing that the Lord is praying for the church in Accra, Ghana, they join in to pray for the church there. To pray together with Christ in this way is to have one living with Him. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 524, 549-550, 533)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 59, 61-62