6.21.26 AM | Living For The Eternal (Part 2)

Devotional

Day 1: When Christ Is Your Life, Earth Fades

The Christian life isn’t about balancing earthly priorities with heavenly ones—it’s about seeing Christ as the only true life. To “seek things above” means fixing our gaze on Jesus’ eternal reign, not negotiating with temporary distractions. Just as a plant bends toward light, believers thrive when oriented to Christ’s supremacy. This reorientation requires daily discipline, not passive hope. Eternal living begins when Christ’s presence eclipses every lesser pursuit. [10:57]

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1–2, ESV)

Reflection: What temporal concern has dominated your thoughts this week? How might intentionally meditating on Christ’s eternal reign recalibrate your focus?

Day 2: The Glorified Body Changes Today’s Choices

Believers often forget their current body is a prototype, not the final design. The promise of a resurrection body—incorruptible, eternal, radiant—should shape how we treat our physical lives now. Sexual immorality, greed, and idolatry lose their grip when we see our bodies as vessels being prepared for unbroken fellowship with Christ. Eternal perspective turns restraint into worship. [26:00]

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you treated your body as disposable rather than sacred? How does the reality of your future glorified body challenge that mindset?

Day 3: Worms Can’t Eat a Glorified Inheritance

Death’s inevitability isn’t morbid—it’s liberating. The coffin’s finality for unbelievers becomes the believer’s launchpad. Paul’s urgency in Colossians 3:5-7 stems from this truth: every sin we refuse to kill today is a chain to what Christ already rendered powerless. Eternal living means acting like heirs, not slaves, in the face of temptation. [18:33]

“When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4, ESV)

Reflection: What habitual sin feels “worth” the temporary high? How does the certainty of appearing with Christ in glory expose that lie?

Day 4: Singing Is Warfare for Eternal Focus

Congregational worship isn’t emotional filler—it’s tactical training. When saints sing together, they collectively lift their eyes above Pharaoh-like circumstances to Christ’s throne. The Israelites’ panic at the Red Sea reveals how quickly eternal truth fades without deliberate rehearsal. Singing anchors us in what lasts. [12:40]

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly… singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” (Colossians 3:15–16, ESV)

Reflection: When has worship realigned your perspective this month? What specific lyric or truth could you carry into today’s battles?

Day 5: Mortify Sin Like a Prisoner Cutting Chains

“Put to death” (Colossians 3:5) uses the Greek term for executing a dangerous criminal. Sin isn’t a nuisance—it’s a traitor. The same Christ who guarantees our future glory empowers present violence against compromise. Eternal living demands treating sin like a former captor, not a tolerated acquaintance. [29:35]

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5, ESV)

Reflection: What specific “earthly” habit have you been negotiating with? What practical step could you take today to starve its influence?

Sermon Summary

Colossians 3 puts Jesus Christ where he belongs, above all, sitting at the right hand of God. Paul roots the Christian life in that reality. If Christ is preeminent, if Christ has made his people complete in him, then living for the eternal means setting affection on him, not just thinking about heaven as a place. Heavenly things are Christ-centered things.

Paul reminds the church that earthly life is not eternal life. The things seen are temporal, but the things not seen are eternal. Giving for the gospel, serving Christ, disciplining the mind, and redirecting attention toward what matters may not always show immediate fruit, but those things are not wasted. Eternal life with Christ is the real life, and this present life is short.

Colossians 3:4 brings the hope into view: Christ is the life of his people, and when he appears, his people will appear with him in glory. Paul writes that kind of hope while sitting in prison, and that makes the encouragement even stronger. Death is real. The body goes to the ground, decays, and returns to dust. But death is not the final chapter, because absent from the body means present with the Lord.

First Thessalonians 4 and First Corinthians 15 press that hope even further. Christ will come again. The dead in Christ will rise, and those alive at his coming will be caught up with the Lord. God will give his people a glorified body, a spiritual body, fit for eternity. The earthly shell dissolves, but God has prepared a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Paul then moves from glory to urgency. If Christ has changed a person positionally, then sin must be put to death practically. Colossians 3:5 says to mortify the members on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, uncontrolled passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Sexual sin is not treated as a small thing. It warps the mind, redirects the heart toward the world, and binds a person under strongholds that keep affection off Christ.

First Corinthians 6 makes the body matter. The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord. The body belongs to God, and Christ will raise it by his power. Therefore, the name of Christ must be joined to a life that departs from iniquity. Egypt cannot be the home of those whom God has delivered. Like Israel at the Red Sea, fear and present trouble can make God’s people forget his power, but the call remains clear: remember who Christ has made his people, remember where they are going, and remember what was left behind.

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Key Takeaways

1. Christ is the eternal focus. [11:58] Colossians 3 does not call the heart to stare vaguely into the sky. The text calls the heart to look where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Eternal living begins when Jesus himself becomes the aim, the treasure, and the center of affection. [11:58]
2. Hope looks past the grave. [20:48] Death is not softened or denied in the text. The body really does decay, and the grave really does receive it. Yet Christ’s appearing means death is not the final chapter, because God has promised resurrection, glory, and a body fit for eternity. [20:48]
3. Sin warps eternal vision. [29:35] Colossians ties heavenly affection to the mortifying of sin because sin changes the way a person thinks. Sin does not merely break rules, it redirects desire and trains the soul to live for what is seen. A heart that clings to sin should not expect clear sight of Christ. [29:35]
4. The body belongs to God. [36:32] First Corinthians 6 refuses to treat the body as disposable or merely biological. The body is for the Lord, bought with a price, and destined for resurrection. Sexual purity matters because Christ claims the whole person, not just inward thoughts or religious words. [36:32]
5. Remember what Christ changed. [39:39] Paul speaks of sinful patterns as something once lived in, not something that should define the life Christ has redeemed. Grace does not erase the memory of Egypt so that sin can be romanticized. Grace teaches the soul to remember deliverance, heaven, and the God who has already changed the direction of life.

## [39:39]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[08:43] - Living for the Eternal Continued
[10:57] - Seek the Things Above
[12:40] - Seen Things Are Temporal
[15:43] - Christ Who Is Life
[18:15] - Looking Forward to Glory
[20:48] - The Coming of the Lord
[25:22] - Christ’s Return Is Not a Fairy Tale
[28:43] - Mortify the Flesh
[30:20] - Putting Sexual Sin to Death
[33:33] - The Body Is for the Lord
[37:14] - God’s Wrath Against Disobedience
[39:39] - Remember Who You Belong To
[40:56] - Israel at the Red Sea
[43:29] - Closing Prayer and Response

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Colossians 3:1-4
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” [10:57]

1 Corinthians 6:13-20
“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh.’ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” [33:33]

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will ever be with the Lord.” [20:48]

2 Corinthians 4:18
“As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” [12:40]

Observation questions

In Colossians 3:1-4, what are believers told to seek and set their minds on, and where is Christ said to be? [11:07]
According to 2 Corinthians 4:18, what contrast is made between the things that are seen and the things that are unseen?
In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, what sequence of events is described when the Lord comes? [22:00]
In Colossians 3:5, what sins are named when Paul says to mortify the members which are upon the earth? [30:20]

Interpretation questions

Colossians 3 does not simply point believers to heaven as a place, but to Christ himself. Why does that matter for understanding what it means to live for the eternal? [11:58]
Paul connects future glory with present holiness. Why would the promise that believers will appear with Christ in glory lead directly into the command to mortify sin? [28:36]
First Corinthians 6 says the body is for the Lord and not for sexual immorality. How does that truth challenge the common idea that sexual sin is just a private or biological matter? [34:33]
Israel wanted to go back to Egypt when fear rose in front of them. How can present pressure make a believer forget God’s past deliverance and future promises? [42:39]

Application questions

Christ is seated above, and heavenly-minded living begins by setting affection on him. What has been most competing for attention lately, and what would it look like this week to turn that attention back toward Christ in a real and deliberate way? [12:03]
The things that are seen are temporal, but the things not seen are eternal. Where is there a temptation right now to live only for what can be seen immediately—money, comfort, approval, pleasure, or control? [13:01]
Christ who is the life of his people will appear, and his people will appear with him in glory. How would daily frustrations, griefs, or fears look different if that hope were kept in view more steadily? [22:32]
Sin warps the mind and redirects desire away from Christ. Are there patterns, entertainments, habits, or secret compromises that have been dulling spiritual affection and making eternal things feel distant? [29:50]
The body belongs to God and was bought with a price. How should that truth shape choices involving purity, relationships, media, and private thought life? [36:32]
Some sins are described as things once walked in, not things meant to define the believer now. Is there any old part of Egypt that still feels strangely attractive, and what helps resist the urge to go back? [40:25]
Remembering who belongs to Christ, where Christ’s people are going, and what has been left behind gives strength for holy living. Which of those three truths needs to be remembered most clearly right now, and why? [39:39]

Sermon Clips

58s

“``Get rid of sin in our lives. We will never live for the eternal. We will never be able to focus on God without removing the sin in our lives. Number three, living for the eternal is removing sin from our lives. Amen? Removing sin from our life. That is how we live for the eternal. We have to remove sin from our lives because sin affects the way we think. You wanna know why myself, sometimes I don't think about the eternal and don't always think about Christ and don't think about always what is important? It is because often I am living in sin or in the flesh. Because sin warps our minds. It it distorts our thinking. It redirects the way we think and ultimately it redirects the way we think for for worldly things, not upon Christ.”

44s

“Just to take home on, based on all that we have learned, listen, living for the eternal is to remember who you belong to. That is so important and that's all that we've talked about in this study. Living for the eternal is to remember who you belong to. We are in Christ. We have a new disposition. We are a new creature in Jesus Christ. If that is the case, need to live for the eternal. Number two, remember where you are going. Aren't you grateful knowing as a Christian we are going to heaven? We'll live with Jesus for all of eternity. So we're gonna be with Jesus, let's glorify God.”

32s

“The point I'm trying to make in all of this is listen, our our lives on this earth are temporal. It is not a fairy tale to to believe that Jesus will come again. It is not a mystical thing that to that to say that Jesus is going to come again. And he will bring the dead with him and we will rise together in the in the clouds with the Lord forever to be with him for all of eternity. That is not a weird thing. That is not a fairy tale. That is a true thing from the word of God.”

26s

“I'm bringing all that to your attention to tell you, to let you know that we will be changed with the glorified body. We will live for all of eternity in the state of Christ. Listen, so if that is the case, if Christ will redeem us, if Christ will come again and glorify us and bring us home to heaven, listen, we should live our lives solely focused on him right now. Because life is short.”

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6.21.26 AM | Living For The Eternal (Part 2) | Pastor Cyle Mainous