Keep Your Mind Fixed on the Things Above

September, 2005

by: Jack Hughes

• Spiritual Growth

Recently I was asked to speak on the subject of how we use our time and one of the texts I came across was Col. 3:1-4 which says, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” This text is convicting, encouraging, and challenging to believers. It is an exhortation to live in a completely different way than the people of the world. It is a call to have different goals, thoughts, and passions — a completely different world view.

This text calls us to direct our minds out of the temporary, the sin, corruption, pain, death, and evil of this world and to focus our thoughts on eternal life, who we will be with, and what we will be doing for all eternity.

In the first two chapters of Colossians, Paul addresses the supremacy of Christ and in the last two chapters he addresses how believers are to walk because of Christ’s supremacy. Let’s see what he has for us in these first four verses of Colossians three.

If You Have Been Raised Up

Paul begins the application section of Colossians in Col. 3:1 with, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ.” What does Paul mean by this? First notice the “therefore,” which is a reference back to what Paul said in the preceding context. He has just finished telling the Colossians about the futility of trusting in man made religion and harsh treatment of the body in order to try and be holy or be accepted by God. It doesn’t work. And that is when he says, “Therefore if.” The “if” tells us that a condition must be met. And what condition is that? You have to meet the condition of “having been raised up with Christ.” This is one of the many phrases used in the New Testament to describe one who is truly saved. What does it mean to be saved?

When we repent of our sins, turn from them to follow Jesus and place our faith in who He is, what He accomplished on the cross, and His resurrection, we are saved. Being saved includes an entire dump truck of blessings. It’s not just about escaping from Hell and the wrath of a just and holy God. Its about being justified, sanctified, redeemed, ransomed, forgiven, transformed, regenerated, recreated, adopted, and yes, “raised up with Christ.” Now you might be wondering how Paul, writing to those who are still alive, can say “you have been raised up” since he is speaking to believers still here on earth and Christ is in heaven? This is a good question.

What Paul means is when you are saved you are placed in Christ and Christ is placed in you, spiritually speaking. Before coming to Christ you were spiritually dead, but now that you have come to Christ in faith, He gives you His life, His very resurrection life, so that death no longer has power over you. You receive Christ’s life at the moment of your conversion and it is yours for all eternity. And though you have not physically died or been physically resurrected from the dead in a glorified body and exalted to Heaven, you have the life of Christ in you which guarantees that you will be. So even though you’re still living on this earth as a believer, you are experiencing the resurrection life of Christ right now. You are, right now, raised up from your spiritual deadness and exalted to newness of life in Christ. This makes you different, privileged, and unique among all those who do not know Christ. God, by His grace, has raised you up from the spiritually dead state you once lived in to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4; Eph. 2:1-6). Because of this wonderful fact, God wants you to live differently. How do you do that?

Seek the Things Above

Paul goes on to say, “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” The phrase “keep seeking” is a present active command which means we are to always seek the things above. Why? Because that is “where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” But what does that mean practically speaking? Well, it means seeking heavenly things not earthly things. Still, this may seem kind of strange since we can see, touch, taste, smell, and hear earthly things but not heavenly ones. We have never even been to Heaven, so what is Paul saying?

Paul is encouraging us to seek, desire, obtain, and long for heavenly things. Some heavenly things can be obtained here on earth, others we have to wait to receive later. The heavenly things we can obtain here on earth are things like Christ’s righteousness, holiness, and truth. We can also win souls to Christ by sharing the Gospel. Godliness, holiness and redeemed people will be in Heaven and these things we can obtain here on earth. But apart from these things, we are to seek or desire Christ, being free from sin, seeing the New Jerusalem, ruling and reigning with Christ, seeing the angels, seeing the living creatures, and the fellowship we will have with the saints of all the ages. God wants you to desire, seek, long for these things.

Why would Paul tell us to do this? Because when we are seeking the things above it will make us want to be holy and not sin. It will put into proper perspective the passing pleasures of this world. It will give us joy, hope, and perseverance to live for Christ now in a sin cursed world. It will cause us to be full of wonder, praise, and thanksgiving. So you need to keep seeking the things above. What else?

Set Your Mind on the Things Above

In addition to seeking the things above Paul goes on to say, “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” The first command is to desire, long for, and seek heavenly things, this command is to mentally dwell on the things above. God wants you to fix, set, and cement into place your mind so that it is directed to think about heaven not earthly things. It doesn’t matter how old you are, life is short and you could die or Christ could take you home to be with Him at any moment. God doesn’t want your mind thinking about sin, about things destined to perish, about the world’s goods that will be burnt up, but he wants you to set or fix your mind on the things above.

Next time you find your mind wandering and thinking about worldly or sinful things, stop yourself and start thinking about heavenly things. Picture in your mind what cherubim and seraphim look like. Think about what it will be like to talk to Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses and any other saint you can think of. Think about what it will be like to walk on streets of gold, what the earth will look like, what you will look like, what others will look like in their glorified states. Think about Jesus and what He will look like. Think about what it will be like to talk to Jesus Christ, to ask Him questions about His life, His works, why He chose to save you. Read the portions of Scripture that speak of Heaven and set your mind working to ponder, meditate, and imagine what it will be like to be given a glorified body, to live in a perfect world with no sin, where you can learn with a perfect mind, remember with a perfect memory for all eternity. Set your mind on the things above!

Remember You Have Died

Paul continues, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” This statement is also a bit confusing at first. You may be thinking that you are still alive and haven’t died yet, so why does the text say, “for you have died” if you are not dead yet? Remember Paul is speaking of spiritual things. Before coming to Christ we are dead to Christ and alive to sin. After coming to Christ, we die to sin and are made alive to Christ. Before, we could do nothing but sin, but now, we have the freedom to obey and give glory to Christ because His resurrection life is within us. Paul in Gal. 2:20 speaks of this when he says, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

As a believer you have spiritually died to your former slavery to sin and Satan. Sin is no longer your master. Satan is no longer your lord. Pleasure seeking, power, money, and fame are no longer to be the goals of your life. You have been crucified with Christ, died with Christ to your sinful manner of life. Now your life is “hidden in Christ.” You have Christ living within you and you are in Him. Sin is no longer your master. You don’t have to sin any more because you have been freed from sin’s power. You have Christ in you! You are hidden in Christ! You are freed from sin and Satan which formerly you were enslaved to. This is the reason you can seek and set your mind on the things above. You are right now a heavenly creature in Christ!

Remember Christ Is Coming

So Paul gives us two commands, a reason to obey the commands, and now he gives us a motivation for keeping these two commands and says, “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” Think about that! Think about how often you sin. Think about how unworthy you are and how miserably you have followed the Lord. Nevertheless, “you will be revealed with Christ in glory.” At any moment, maybe before you even finish reading this, you could be raptured into glory! You could be transformed in the twinkling of an eye and glorified, given a perfect body and instantly translated into the presence of Christ! In the words of Paul in I Thess. 4:17,“Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” Think about that!

Then you will be in the presence of Christ in your glorified body for seven years during the tribulation and at the end of that time period you will return with Christ in His Second Coming glory! You will be on Christ’s side, in His army, when Satan and his demons are cast into the pit! You will be on the winning side when Christ takes back the world from Satan and sets up His throne in Jerusalem! Listen to how John describes this in Rev. 19:11-14, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.” And who is this clothed in fine linen, white and clean, following Christ? It’s you! It’s you and all the saints of all the ages! Think about that!

If you seek the things above, set your mind on the things above, remember you have died to sin but have been made alive in Christ, and constantly remember that Christ can return at any moment to rapture you into glory. Do you know what effect this will have on your life? The classic hymn by Hellen Lemmel says it all:

O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free!

Thru death into life everlasting He passed, and we follow Him there; over us sin no more hath dominion—For more than conq’rors we are!

His word shall not fail you—He promised; believe Him, and all will be well; Then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.