by Bryan Chappell
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Colossians 3:1

As you study Paul’s words in Colossians 3:1, as he identified the status we have by the grace of God, notice there’s a mystery in that first phrase: “If then you have been raised with Christ.” That’s resurrection language, isn’t it? “If you’ve been resurrected.” Now, he was talking to living people as though they had already died. How could he be talking to living people as if they had already died?
The answer is in Colossians 2:12, where the apostle described Christians as those “having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
I must tell you, it is not normal in our day and age to think of a baptism as a death certificate, but that’s exactly what it is. If you were a first-century Jew, or even a first-century Gentile coming out of pagan religion, this is what your baptism meant: all that has been true of you—your religion, your associations, your lifestyle, your family—is now no longer where you’re finding your identity. They are, in a way, dead to you. And you are dead to them. You’ve been brought into real life under the true God, whose name is Jesus.
A year ago in Morocco, a young man came out of a church and was set upon by numerous people who tried to murder him. Rescued by the Christians in the church, he subsequently came to the United States and discovered his very own family had ordered his murder. “You are dead to us,” they said. But he was alive now to a new existence in Christ.
The apostle was making much of that when he said in Colossians 3:1, “If then you have been raised with Christ”—in this new life—“seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” Now, each word is important to understand the greatness of the grace of God. Jesus is raised to God in heaven, no longer dead.
If you are identified with Him, if you are united to Him and He is “seated at the right hand of God,” where are you? Seated at the right hand of God.

Thought to Remember for Today

Your baptism signifies that you have died and have been raised again with a completely new identity, citizenship, and place of residence. What was once true about you is no longer true. By God’s grace you have been raised up to sit at the place of honor with Christ.

Fitzpatrick, E. (2016). Grace untamed: a 60-day devotional. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook.