Set Your Hearts On Things Above

COLOSSIANS 3:1-4
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
”‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3:1-4‬ ‭NKJV‬
‬https://bible.com/bible/114/col.3.1-4.NKJ

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In this chapter Paul explains what true Christian behaviour should be; putting on the new nature by accepting Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and regarding our earthly nature as dead.
We allow Christ to live within us through the Holy Spirit (JONH 14:15-18), so that He can start a good work within us, that he can shape us into who we are supposed to be; He is the potter and I we are the clay (ISAIAH 64:8).
And I am convinced that God who started a good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day Christ Jesus returns (PHILIPPIANS 1:6).
Paul, in contrast to the false teachers who were instructing the Colossians to concentrate on the temporal of this earth, instructed them to set their minds on the eternal realities of heaven. The word “set” suggest this is an ongoing decision.
“For you died” means that we should be rid of all ungodly desires of this world as a dead person would be.
As believers, our home is where God lives (JOHN 14:2-3). This truth gives us a new perspective on our lives here on earth.
To set your minds on things above (heaven), means to continually look at life from God’s perspective and seek His will and desires, providing an antidote to materialism. Furthermore, we gain a proper perspective on material things when we take God’s view on them. It also provides an antidote to sensuality.
By seeking God’s desires in our life, we gain the power to break our obsession with ungodly pleasure and leisure activities.
Furthermore, it provides an antidote to empty religion, because following Christ means selflessly and unconditional loving and serving in this world.
By regarding the world around you as God does, will bring you to live in harmony with Him and other believers.
The devil brings troubles in this physical world; sickness, poverty, and all kinds of curses that bring failure and misery, but if we are going to break his hold, we must take the battle into God’s garden in the spiritual realms and stand firmly on the promises of God.
For, “He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
Jesus said, ““Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
If we are to defeat the devil and his evil schemes, we must pray in the Spirit, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬-‭20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
Therefore my beloved, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭2‬-‭11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.