Set Your Minds On Things Above, Not On Earthly Things
The Source Of Our Troubles Is In The Spiritual Realms
COLOSSIANS 3:1-3
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.
”Colossians 3:1-3 NKJV
https://www.bible.com/114/col.3.1-3.nkj
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Paul explains what Christian lives ought to be, putting on our new nature by accepting Christ as our Lord and Saviour and regarding our old earthly nature as dead.
We are born again into God’s family, so we must change our moral and ethical behaviour by allowing the Holy Spirit to live within us (JOHN 14:15-18), so that He can lead and transform us by renewing our our minds and shape us into who we should be, that we come to understand what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (ROMANS 12:1-2).
To seek those things which are above, is to set our sights on the realities of heaven and the spiritual realms, giving priority to the eternal rather than the temporal. For you died to this life, and should therefore have little desire for inappropriate worldly pleasures. Furthermore, our troubles are sourced from within the spiritual realms, “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.”
Ephesians 6:12 NKJV
If we are going to see real change in people’s lives, we need to break the devil’s hold over them which can only be achieved through the Holy Spirit, our helper (JOHN 14:15-18).
For when one receives the gift of the Holy Spirit, he carries God given authority to “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”
Matthew 10:8 NKJV
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is our guarantee, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”
II Corinthians 1:20-22 NKJV
The Christian’s real home is where Christ lives (JOHN 14:2-3).
The truth of this puts a different prospective on our lives here on earth. To think of things “which are above” means to look at life from God’s perspective and to seek the things He desires.
This provides an antidote to materialism; we gain proper perspective on material things when we take God’s view on them.
Furthermore, it provides the antidote to sensuality. By seeking what Christ desires, we are empowered to break our obsessions with pleasure and leisure activities, for God gives us the desire to do His will and the power to do it (PHILIPPIANS 2:13).
It also provides the antidote to empty religiosity, because following Christ means selflessly loving and serving in this world for God’s glory.
Seeing the world around you as God does, will help you to live in harmony with Him.
Your life is “hidden” is to say it is “concealed and safe.” This is more than a hope, it is an established fact.
Your new life in Christ starts the moment you give yourself to Christ and make Him the Lord and Saviour over your life.
You cannot buy, earn, or purchase salvation, it is a free gift to those who believe, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:9 NKJV
When we receive a gift from a friend, we don’t say, “how much do I owe you?” That would surely be disrespectful. No, we simply say thank you.
Therefore, give God every praise and all the glory with a thankful heart, for He alone is worthy of all praise, and rejoice because your names are written in heaven (LUKE 10:20).
Truly I tell you, ““Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 NKJV
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
