Monday after the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 16, 2023 by under
Scripture: Colossians 3:1-10 (NKJV)
3:3 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.
Devotion
Each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper we say in the preface, “The Lord be with you,” and respond, “And with thy spirit.” The pastor chants, “Lift up your hearts,” and you respond, “We lift them up unto the Lord.” If you’ve ever wondered, the versicle “Lift up your hearts” is based on Colossians 3:1-10, where St. Paul tells the Colossians “seek those things which are above.” So, when the pastor says, “Lift up your hearts,” he is telling us to put away ourselves. Put away all the notions about our own righteousness and the good things we do. Put yourself in the hands of the only One who can make you righteous. And we answer, “We lift them up unto the Lord.” We give our “amen” to the Apostle’s admonition.
The ritual thankfulness of Matins, Vespers, litanies, and the Divine Service shape our hearts so that we might live in genuine faith and thankfulness. Liturgical and sacramental Christianity is the most genuine form of the Faith, and it is the true way of shaping a truly grateful heart. All the power that you need to live a holy life is right there. All those things that are “above” are right there. Set your mind on those things.
Prayer: O Almighty and most Merciful God, of Thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech Thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready, both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that Thou wouldest have done; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
