Set Your Heart On Things Above
Invest Into The Eternal
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.
When we commit our lives to Christ, 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 lead us and 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 our ungodly desires of this world as a dead person would.
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 through the spiritual realms; sickness, poverty, and all kinds of curses that bring failure and misery and ultimately death.
Therefore, if we are going to break his hold, we must take the battle into God’s garden, praying against the source of our troubles 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
We all want a nice life style, a nice home, car, and money in the bank, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But all those things are temporary and unnecessary in comparison to knowing Christ and the wonderful future He has for His people.
“There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches kept for their owner to his hurt. But those riches perish through misfortune; When he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return, To go as he came; And he shall take nothing from his labor Which he may carry away in his hand. And this also is a severe evil— Just exactly as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he who has labored for the wind? All his days he also eats in darkness, And he has much sorrow and sickness and anger. Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.”
Ecclesiastes 5:13-20 NKJV
Therefore my beloved, enjoy life, but invest into your and your children’s eternal future.
No amount of money, esteem, lifestyle, or power, in this physical world is worth selling your soul for.
My beloved, rather than the temporary of this world, invest into your eternal future.
Therefore, give your life to Christ, and receive the promise, for the promise is to you and your children, and as many as your loved ones the Lord chooses to call (ACTS 2: 38-39).
My brethren, “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.
