Colossians 3:1-4 (ESV)
[1] If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the
things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2]
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. [3]
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. [4] When Christ
who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
When he says to set our minds on things above, what does that mean? It does
not mean, set your thoughts on ethereal, spiritual things versus earthly things
like work, commitment, marriage and family, etc. This is not the Greek
philosophy that says physical things are evil and spiritual things are good. Paul
defines his terms in the next verses. He defines earthly things as, “sexual
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is
idolatry” (Col 3:5). These things are to be put to death.
These are expressions of the brokenness that resulted from Adam’s sin, but
they are not what define the believer. He goes on to write, “In these you too
once walked, when you were living in them” (Col 3:7). We are no longer living
in them. As believers we are now living in Christ. As such, behavior from that
previous life is inappropriate. Our past behavior does not define us. Our
identity is found in Christ, with whom we have been raised to new life.
What does Christ’s life look like? “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy
and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving
each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Col
3:12-13). Why? Because that is who we are now in Christ. That is our new
identity. As believers in Jesus Christ we are not only forgiven of our sins, we
are given an entirely new identity.
As believers it is now love that ought to bind us together, peace that ought
to rule in our hearts, and the Word of God that ought to dwell in us richly,
“teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col 3:16). These
things ought to be true of us, not because it will keep God happy with us, or
conversely that it will keep God from being angry with us, but because this is
who we are.
As believers in Jesus Christ our identity is no longer found in our earthly
passions, our former way of life, nor our sinful habits that we sometimes find
so hard to break. Our identity is now found in Christ. To set our minds on
things above is not to be thinking about gold paved streets, and wondering how
to play the harp. It is to set our minds on the very life of Christ in whom we
find our life.
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