Jump Start # 674

Colossians 3:2 “Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth.”

Paul’s words here are very simple, yet very hard to do. I was talking with someone recently, and they felt as if their faith was stuck, going no where. This person hadn’t given up nor thrown in the towel. He was stagnate and felt as if his faith was not a real part of his life anymore. Many of us have been there. Life tends to be hills, with ups and downs, rather than flat stretches of road. It’s the valleys we go through that are tough. The valleys are often not hard times, because hard times tend to make us lean on our faith. The valleys can be those ordinary, every day, nothing special kind of days. Those are the days that are often lost in our memories. We remember exciting events. We’d like to forget the terrible days, but we don’t. It’s all those other days, the ordinary going to school days, going to work days, that often get us feeling stagnate.

I gave our verse today to this person I was talking with. As we parted, I really thought about this verse. The front part is the easiest. Set your mind on things above! That’s first, a choice. That’s deliberately thinking about Heaven, but more than golden streets and pearly gates, it’s thinking about Christ. Setting your mind on Christ—His rule, His position, His will, reminds us that we belong to Him. We live with a purpose and a plan—it’s Christ’s. Most of us get that. We may not do it as often as we should, but we get it.

The second part of this verse is what troubles us. Paul said to not set our minds “on things of the earth.” Christ thinking not earthly thinking. Yet we live here. There are things that require my mind, my attention and me. There are bills to pay, pets that need to go to the vet, a house that needs care, vacations to be planned, retirement to be saving for. We are of this world and can not go through it without some attention. I don’t think Paul was telling the early Christians to ignore leaky roofs, finding a job, taking care of sick kids—just keep thinking of Christ and Heaven. If not careful, that sounds like our concept of monks in long robes sitting around humming praises. Maybe that would be peaceful and that lifestyle appealing to some, but it’s not practical. I live in a house. I have kids. I have a job. How can I seek things above and not be drawn to those things?

Could it be that setting my mind on things above will activate my faith in the things here? Instead of living two separate lives, one spiritual and one physical, I am to live one life—a person of Christ. Setting my mind on things above will ease my fears and lessen my worries. Setting my mind on things above will put things in order and keep me from being vain, selfish and materialistic. Setting my mind on things above will lead me to a right attitude and make me become more thankful to God. Setting my mind on things above puts the most important right before my eyes.

Could it be that our faith seems to get stuck because we don’t see the need for it every day and everywhere? Could it be that we have not learn that the physical and spiritual  are connected and one will lead the other. How important it is for the spiritual to lead the physical. Decisions and choices need to be based upon the spiritual not the physical. The spiritual will get us through. The spiritual will make all the difference.

We should never flip off the spiritual switch. Everywhere we are, the spiritual matters. It will keep our tongues in check. It will help us with who we are. It will remind us of what we ought to be doing. It will pump air into our faith. Godliness is not a Sunday thing, it’s an everyday choice.

Set your mind on things above…It will make a difference.

Roger