“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:1-2
Set your mind on things above. Sounds easy, right? But in reality, you and I both know the difficulty that is presented within this simple statement.
We have all fallen victim to forgetting something at some point in time. My mother seems to be able to recall every detail of every single story from her childhood, including the exact color and pattern of the clothing that each person was wearing. Honestly, it’s impressive. Yet, even she forgets things sometimes. I bring this up not to point out my mother’s forgetfulness, but to help us realize that our minds have a capacity. There is a certain amount of space that can be filled at any given time. If something enters through the front gate of our mind, it is only because there was a space left by something else making an escape out the back door.
With this in mind, let’s look back to Paul’s words to the Colossians.
“Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.”
Paul understood the capacity of our minds. He did not say, “… and ADD to your mind the things from above.” In fact, three verses later he says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature…”. We must actively and permanently get rid of the earthly things that are consuming our minds in order to fill our minds with Christ; to set our minds on the things above.
This entire concept is further supported, again by Paul, in the book of 2 Corinthians. “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (10:5). Every God-opposing, world focused thought is to be cast down, and those empty spaces of our minds are to be filled with thoughts that have been filtered through the King of the kings.
I want to encourage you to stop reading for a moment and just consider what is occupying the space of your mind. Take a poll. What percentage of your mind is filled with the things of the Kingdom of God? How about earthly things?
What are those things that are occupying the earthly percentage of your mind?
As we are quickly approaching having been deployed for two weeks, I have become increasingly aware of the great presence of distraction in our world. Interestingly enough, it is my lack of distraction here that has opened my eyes to the endless amount of distractions away from this setting. Here, our schedule is planned out, our meals are provided, our transportation is arranged, and our hotel room is always ready and waiting at the end of the day. Our leaders even offered to help us get our laundry done today, so that we don’t have to squeeze it in after the work day. “Anything that will make this just the slightest bit easier for you,” they said. Among other things, these details being handled by other, incredible teammates, give us, the medical staff, the opportunity to focus our minds on the calling before us. With this minimization of distraction, we get the opportunity to set more of our minds on the things above.
We are working many longs days throughout the time that we are here and in that I have been completely amazed by the sustenance of the Lord day after day. It is only by His strength that we can continue on, not that of our own. There has not been a single morning that my alarm has sounded and I have found myself wanting to go back to bed more than I want to get up and get back to work. As I have considered this over the past few days, I have realized that the lack of distractions have been a huge component in this. Minimal time, energy and mental capacity has been expounded on the things of this world, so that our team may more greatly channel their focus on the things above; the things of Christ.
The passion translation puts Colossians 3:2 this way, “Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.”
FEAST on the treasures of the heavenly realm and FILL your thoughts with heavenly remedies.
I know that we can’t all go out and find someone to minimize the distractions in our lives. There are things that are hard to let go of and things that we just have to do in order to function in the world today, just as there are distractions that will seemingly sneak into our lives with a growing presence.
But I want to encourage you to be mindful of your thoughts. Take time to check the inventory of your mind. What are you allowing to come in? The space in there is precious and limited; be a good gatekeeper. Put to death your earthly thoughts, minimize the distractions of this world, and take every new, incoming thought to the foot of the cross, where it can collect it’s ticket of obedience to Christ; it’s ticket of entry to dwell in your mind.
