Setting Our Minds on Things Above

I had the opportunity to teach at church over a week ago, and I endeavored to teach on the topic of setting our minds on things above from Colossians 3:1-2. During my studies I discovered that there are two stages to doing this.  Stage one is read in verse one where it says “set your sights on the realities of heaven” in the NLT and the NIV reads “set your hearts on things above.” 

Verse two says “let heaven fill your thoughts” and “set your minds on things above” in the NLT and NIV respectively. 

While at first reading it may appear that God is having the Apostle Paul write the same thing twice; that is in fact, not the case.  God is deliberately informing us through Paul there are two stages to establishing an eternal mind-set.

In verse one, the word “set” means in the Greek “to strive or pursue after with serious intention.”  What we are to intentionally strive or pursue after is setting our aim, our driving goal, our life’s mission, our heart, or our will, on things above, on the “realities of Heaven.”  Stated another way, our over-arching life motivation ought to be driven by the those things that are where Christ sits at God’s right hand; and where is Christ is sitting?  In Heaven in all of His eternal glory.  So stage one is first setting Heaven and the things of Heaven as our primary aim.

The next question is what are the things of Heaven?  These things are explained for us in verses 12-17.  Some examples from these verses include compassion, peace, doing all we do for the Lord, and, of course, love. 

Stage two is setting our thoughts on things above. In the Greek this means “to fix our thoughts on the things of Christ.” In other words, we are to bathe all of our thinking in those things which are Christ’s.  Instead of asking ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” We are to instead ask ourselves, “What would Jesus be thinking” right now in this situation? The reason for this is thoughts precede our actions; we first think, then we do.  Therefore, if our thinking is biblical, then our actions, our behaviors, our manner of living, will also be biblical.   

So stage one is setting our aim on things above.  Our aim, our over-arching drive, then sets the framework under which everything else in our life is housed; thus setting up the framework for stage two:  our thinking. 

Here’s another way of stating these two stages.  If our primary aim is to become rich, or to get a bigger house, or to get that promotion, all of our subsequent thoughts and actions will be motivated, either consciously or subconsciously, by this aim.  Equally, if our aim is heavenly realities and all Heaven entails, then, obviously, our subsequent thoughts and actions will follow after this eternal perspective.   

Other scripture references begin to make more sense to us as we begin to understand this two-stage framework for our thinking, then.  References such as leading every thought captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) or thinking on things that are good (Philippians 4:8) now make more sense as we understand more clearly the two-stage process of thinking. 

The arena of competition is often between the ears in our thinking.  It is in our thinking that we believe the things of God or we don’t we don’t believe them.  If are deceived and think less than heavenly realities, we find ourselves being defeated in the very things God is calling us to be victorious in. But as we continue deepening our understanding of our identity in Christ and the truth of God’s word, we can then set our aim and our thinking more fully on the things of Heaven and begin to experience the blessing and the victory God is calling us to. 

More on this concept later…stay tuned.