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27th October 2025
MondayReflection
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'Question'
"What does it mean to set your
mind on things above?"
(Colossians 3:2)
Answer
To set one's mind on something is to choose to think about it, influencing one's goals and guiding one's course of action.
The first part of the chapter is worth quoting in full to give the proper context:
1 You have been raised to life with Christ, so set your hearts on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on his throne at the right side of God. 2 Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory!
The Old Life and the New
5 You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed (for greed is a form of idolatry). 6 Because of such things God's anger will come upon those who do not obey him. 7 At one time you yourselves used to live according to such desires, when your life was dominated by them.
8 But now you must get rid of all these things: anger, passion, and hateful feelings. No insults or obscene talk must ever come from your lips. 9 Do not lie to one another, for you have put off the old self with its habits 10 and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in his own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself. 11 As a result, there is no longer any distinction between Gentiles and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, savages, slaves, and free, but Christ is all, Christ is in all.
12 You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. 14 And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. 15 The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful. 16 Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts. 17 Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father.
.... (Colossians 3:1-17).
Colossians was written by the apostle Paul to the church in the city of Colossae.
The culture of Colossae was thoroughly pagan and immoral, as it was in most of the Roman world - and as it is in much of the world today.
The Christians in Colossae, however, could no longer take their cues from the world around them.
They had to take direction from "above."
Although physically in the world, they were not to believe the same things that the culture around them did.
They were not to behave according to the standards of the culture around them. That would be taking their cues from "below."
Paul describes the "below" culture in a number of words and concepts: anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, lying.
The "above" culture, in contrast, is characterized by compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, peace, singing, worship, and gratitude.
How are we to cultivate the values that are from above while living below?
It takes a concentrated effort.
We must "set our minds" to it.
We are inundated with messages that promote the "below" behaviour.
If we listen to the radio, overhear conversations at work, read billboards, watch the news, read the newspaper, flip through a magazine at the doctor's office, watch TV programs or movies, etc., we will be constantly directed to embrace values that are clearly from below.
Even if the messages we receive are not overtly immoral, the perspective is one that excludes God and prioritizes things as though life on earth is all that matters - our happiness and fulfillment (the "right" to be happy) are top priority.
If we want to be directed "from above," we must make an effort to counteract the messages that are omnipresent in our culture.
To set our minds on things above, we must read and meditate on Scripture, attend church, listen to uplifting music, and read things that turn our hearts toward God.
This is a recurring theme in Scripture:
Romans 12:2: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
Matthew 6:19-20, 33: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. . . . Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
Following his contrast of things below and things above in Colossians 3, Paul goes on to give a list of standards for Christian behaviour that make absolutely no sense in today's culture.
Everything about the individualist, self-centred priorities that have high value today run counter to the type of restraint and sacrifice that Paul enjoins in verses 18-22:
The only way that a person can live according to the above dictates is if he or she is taking directions from somewhere other than the secular culture.
Thinking on "things above" (the truths of God's Word) not only guides us in what we should do but gives the reasons we should do it (grace, our position in Christ, our eternal reward, etc.).
As we believe the truth "from above" more than the lies "from below," we will start to act like creatures born from above, who have been raised with Christ (Colossians 3:1) and seated with Him at the right hand of the Father (Ephesians 2:6).
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This is an edited version.
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