Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Colossians 3:2
Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls. It’s time to play that game that’s sweeping the nation and taking the world by storm. Everyone, from young toddlers to great grandparents, can’t get enough of the craze that’s changing everything. Are you ready to play?
Let’s do it. It’s time to play: DISTRACTION
It seems like it’s so easy to be distracted nowadays. Remember when computer and phone screens used to just have black text. Like print on a page, it didn’t jump up or move. It didn’t hop around. It didn’t change color. It never changed. It just sat there. Still. Motionless. Silent.
But not now. Letters, funny-looking characters, symbols and signs are all over the place. Their shape and color changes as they noisily dance around the screen. And then there’s the ads that just pop up on our computer and phone screens. Their sole purpose in life is to get us to click on something. To take us to words unknown where we can waste our time and spend our money.
Distraction is big business. Would you believe a half-trillion-dollar industry by 2025. How else do you think Google, Facebook, TikTok, and other multi-billion-dollar companies bring you the latest in 21st-century technology at no cost. And why do they do it? It’s not for the betterment of mankind or out of the goodness of their hearts. It’s all about the advertising revenue. The latest figures put it somewhere near half a trillion dollars. And how does that happen? It’s all about the distractions.
While the Colossians didn’t have our kind of distractions, they still had lots and lots of them. That’s why Paul tells them to set their mind. Actually, he doesn’t say it or suggest it. He’s giving them a direct order to do it.
And how are they to set their mind? Is it just to be a hobby that they get to once in a while? Absolutely not. Paul doesn’t just tell them; he orders them to set their mind. To be doing it constantly and actively. It’s their full-time job.
But where are they to direct their thinking? What are they to set their minds on? Paul gives them a short and simple answer. They are to set their minds on the things of heaven. Period. On the fact that heaven’s going to last an eternity while this world has a very short timeline.
Yes, we’re to set our minds on the things of heaven. Work hard towards them. Pray for them. Try with all our might for them. Seek after them with all our heart, soul, and strength. But it goes deeper than that.
We must think heaven[1]. We need to constantly fill our minds with the things of heaven. With the people of heaven. With who God is and how he wants us to respond to his creating and loving us.
When we set our minds on heaven, it’s not just one big thing. One giant thought. It’s actually a series of thoughts one right after another. Like one domino falling on the next[2], each thought is to lead to the next. And they’re all focused on the things of heaven.
Setting our minds on heaven is less about one thing and more about a lot of things. It’s not some gigantic dump truckload thought, but a bunch of handful thoughts. One by one. Thought by thought. Moment by moment. Minutes by minute. Hour by hour. If you’re looking for a practical tip, here are three.
First – It’s a moment-by-moment journey. One thought followed by the next. When you trip up, and you will, get back to setting your mind on heaven.
Second – I think the best place to start is about God’s gracious salvation and the gift of Christ’s death on the cross.
Third – While the things of earth are not in themselves sinful, they can be a time-consuming distraction from what’s more important.
Funny thing, when we set our minds on heaven, there’s no time to think about the things of this earth. Or other distractions like money, fame, or power. When our minds are set on the things of heaven, our lives fall into place. Priorities become more clear and easier to stick to. This old hymn says it so well.
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.[3]
Notice the first word – turn. You turn your eyes followed by turning everything about you. To fully turn, you have to move your body. To turn toward Jesus, you have to put him in first place. This means that other things get set aside. Pushed aside. The path towards peace in this life starts by setting your mind on the things of heaven. And Jesus is at the front of that list.
Noodling Questions
When we set our minds, what do we purposefully ignore? Explain.
How do we “think heaven?” Give examples.
Why is turning the first step in setting our minds?
[1] John. B. Lightfoot
[3] O soul, are you weary and troubled? Helen Howarth Lemmel (1922)
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