Colossians 3:2 – “Set you mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
It is a common tendency that we have an attachment towards the place where we lived the longest or worked the longest. Similarly, it is normal to be curious to know about the place our soul is going to live for eternity after our departure from this world. I am interested to discuss this as I have been very caught up with the spiritual realm of our life in terms of who God is, how much close we should be with our loving heavenly Father, how real, happy and worth- seeking is our eternal life with God, how temporary and full of trials is our short life on earth, and how much we should strive on this earth to keep our soul perfect in order to invest towards our permanent residence in heaven. The spiritual realm started becoming a matter of interest for me right after my encounter with Jesus for two hours during a charismatic retreat at Queens, New York in 1995 when I cried out to God during the most mentally difficult time of my life. Usually, people who are interested to preach gospel go to a Bible school and study. Since my encounter with Jesus, the first thing I did was reading the entire Bible with curiosity and passion. Because of my desire to know God more, I could understand much better than before. After that, for ten years I focused on reading books written by people all over the world describing their spiritual experiences and encounters with Jesus and the changes happened in them in terms of their attraction towards Godly matters. My interest for worldly matters started dropping little by little in a natural way, not by force. Now I feel that my life on earth is just a hard race to be run diligently and tirelessly until I reach the finishing point of my life where God is waiting to receive me with incomparable eternal bliss. This spiritual ecstasy energizes me to overcome all the hard trials on earth with faith, hope, charity, love, dedication, sincerity, humility, simplicity, suffering, self-negation, and constant communication and prayer with God. So it is self-explanatory why should we set our mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth. It is really relevant when someone with a supernatural experience writes or reads or talks about this topic.
Need of a transformation: Setting our mind on things above, our born again experience, our prayer life and preaching the gospel are interconnected. When we read the Bible after having a true experience with God, everything written in it becomes meaningful, and we will get a passion towards God, heavenly matters and the content of the Bible. We will feel a total transformation in ourselves: our worldly interest will decrease; our faith will increase; we will naturally worship God in truth and spirit; prayer or church worship will not be routines anymore; we will feel sorry for those who are still attending worships carelessly as a routine, not from heart; our desire to pray often will increase; we will get an urge to reveal the true God to others, especially non-Christians; we will establish a personal relationship with God; our love for others increases and we will naturally pray for others; and we will become more humble and simple. It is not easy for anyone to become perfect like God, but God expects everyone to try to be perfect like Him. “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”(Matthew 5:48). “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect”(Romans 12:2). There is some tendency to criticize people who preach the gospel in street corners, who distribute tracts about God and the gospel, who walk through mountainous areas to meet people, help them financially for food, school and medical expenses, and preach the word of God to them. Religious extremists try to target them, persecute them physically, strip them naked, and even imprison them in different countries, including India. Anyone whose mind is not set on things above cannot commit to undergo hardships to preach the gospel. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword”(Romans 8:35)?
It is easy for angels in heaven to set their mind on things above. It is a huge task for an ordinary person who has set his mind on the things that are on earth unless he gets transformed through the Holy Spirit. That transformation is possible with constant prayer, a dedicated heart, and the desire to know about God and the word of God. When a transformation takes place in us, it is easy to set our mind on things above and live for Jesus Christ. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come”(2nd Corinthians 5:17). When one lives for Christ, the tendency to live like Christ becomes natural for that person. Setting the mind on things above will become a natural process in that person. “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”(Galatians 2:20).
Why should we set our mind on things above?
We should keep an eternal perspective in a temporal world. Our life on this earth is temporary, and God can call us back any minute. “You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away”(James 4:14). Life is not all about accumulating money or power or fame. When the rich man asked Jesus how he could inherit eternal life, Jesus said finally, “One thing you lack; go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me”(Mark 10:21). The rich man grieved and went away as he owned much property. This is the attitude of the majority of people on earth. This has a lot to do with lack of blessing on the earthly life too. It is not righteous if we accumulate money and live a luxurious life when millions of our brethren suffer around us. We are called to live as children of God, not as children of the world. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world”(1st John 2:16). God desires our physical and spiritual sanctification. “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience”(Colossians 3:5). Along with doing everything necessary to live on this earth, our focus should be to make sure we gain the eternal bliss with God. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ”(Philippians 3:20).
God blessed Adam and Eve and gave them authority over everything on earth and empowered them to subdue it(Genesis 1:28). Our Heavenly Father gave the price of His only Son’s life on Calvary to gain salvation for us(John 3:16). The earth and everything in it are still surviving in spite of the increasing sins, violence, crimes, idolatry, and disobedience of the humans, whom God has created in His own image, only because of His mercy. Let us examine ourselves and see if we are qualified to meet Jesus in the sky on the day of His rapture(Matthew 24:31). If not, are we sanctified and courageous enough to face the Last Judgment? If we are raised to the clouds with Jesus on the day of the rapture, we are assured to be with Him in the heavenly Jerusalem which will come down from heaven and rule righteously on earth in Zion for one thousand years(Revelation 21). The time is running short for all of us to take the right decision. Let us make sure we follow God’s commandments, apply the gospel in our life, love God above all and love our neighbor, keep our body as a holy temple of God, do plenty of charitable acts, become role models for our children, and win the favor of God in everything we do. In short, let us set our mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth. “Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty”(Psalm 8:5). We should not lose the value God has labeled on us. May God Almighty help everyone to say proudly, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”(2nd Corinthians 2:2).
Cicily Sunny
