COLOSSIANS 3:1-3 – 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.”
THEME OF THE DAY: HEAVENLY-MINDED CHRISTIANS. How much did you think on heaven the last couple of days? Oh, you might say, “I watched some birds today. I thought about heaven.” No, not that one. The domain of birds is the first heaven. (Genesis 1:20). You might say, “I stepped out last night and saw an incredible display of stars. I thought about heaven.” No, not that one either. The stars occupy the second heaven (Genesis 1:14). The heaven I am referring to is the third one. The one Stephen, Paul, and John saw (Acts 7:55, 2 Corinthians 12:2, Revelation 4:1). This heaven is a personal heaven. Personal because two people are there. First, our Lord Jesus, a personal Savior, is there (Acts 1:9-11). And the second person is there also – us. (Colossians 3:3). Yes, we are already there.
The first truth, Jesus in heaven, doesn’t cause much difficulty for us. It is in the second truth we might need some help. Thinking of Jesus being in heaven isn’t hard. On the other hand, consistently thinking about us ALREADY in heaven isn’t easy. How are we supposed to ponder heaven? Two ways – a place we are going and a place we are already in. We are to think “heaven future” and “heaven present.” Don’t give up saying, “I cannot think this way.” Sure, we can, but not without effort on our part. Remember the Christian life is not advertised as easy. But if we want to live it the way God desires, being heavenly-minded for earthly-living is key. In the battle of thinking “heaven future” and “heaven present” it is all about winning the battle of residency. It is about learning to live where we are truly located.
In today’s reference there are two “S” applications to help us toward being heavenly-minded for earthly-living; a seeking and a setting. The first “S” application is to seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1). When one seeks for something important it is with great effort. In Paul’s instruction to the Colossians, this seeking is not a nonchalant action. Check out this definition of seek – “to diligently, earnestly, and tenaciously search after something, sparing no effort or expense, for the sought object is valued to the highest degree.” Let that definition compare with our current effort in seeking to be heavenly-minded and see how we measure up. What are we to seek? Paul said, “things above” and there are many. Read Revelation 4-5 to get a sense, but the primary thing above is not a thing. It is a person. It is our Lord Jesus.
The second “S” application is to set your minds on things that are above (Colossians 3:2a). This, too, is not to be met in a casual manner. To set your minds means to “keep on thinking about it.” In the excellent resource, Robertson’s Word Pictures of the New Testament, he comments, “It does matter what we think, and we are responsible for our thoughts.” We are not able to get “off the hook” by dismissing the commands to seek and set our thoughts toward heavenly thinking as too difficult, too many distractions upon us. I admit, our world does not foster disciplined thinking. Everything is quick and easy. The result is our supposed inability to train our minds to the discipline of spiritual thinking. However, we don’t want to leave today’s nugget on a negative. The glory of grace is that when a command by God is given, the resource of grace to obey the command is also given. We are not only commanded to think “heaven future and heaven present” but we are enabled to do so by His power!
Prayer: “Father, make us see the most heavenly-minded person does the most earthly good.”
Quote: “Heavenly thinking is to be normal thinking for the Christian.”
Because of Him,
Pastor Jim