#7 How Should I Act?
 

Heavenly Minded
 

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
(Colossians 3:2-3)
 

    Albert Einstein had more trouble finding his way home from work than he did finding the key to atomic power.
    One evening as he sat deep in thought aboard the train that brought him home each night, the porter approached to collect his ticket. Einstein rummaged around in his coat, through his pockets, in his shirt, and everywhere else he could think of. He grew alarmed at his inability to find the ticket.
  "That's okay, Dr. Einstein,@ said the porter, "I know you ride this train every day. I can collect tomorrow.@
  "That's fine for you, young man,@ Einstein replied, "but how am I supposed to know where to get off the train without my ticket?@
  Paul surely was a single-minded as Einstein, but he had a better idea of where he was going. He wanted his readers to join him in the trip. "Set your minds on things above,@ he writes.
  "Hoo boy, these preachers, they do repeat themselves,@ you say. "He just said to set your hearts on things above, and now he says set your minds on things above.@
  But Paul is not repeating himself here. It's one thing to set your heart on things; it's another to set your mind on them. In this passage Paul makes a distinction between your affections and your grasp of truth.
    What is the truth stated here? It's found in verse 3: "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.@ That's a truth, all right, but it's a little hard to grasp and a little harder to believe. What does he mean?
    Let's back up a bit. Earlier in Colossians Paul insisted that not only did Christ die for us, but we died with him. Because it was necessary for Christ to die for some things, it is only appropriate that we should die to those same things.
    If I know that I have done many evil and hurtful things in my life; if I am convicted that they are sin and I repent; if I ask forgiveness, understand that Christ died on the cross to forgive me and believe that I have been freely forgiven at the dreadful cost of Christ's life, then how could I merrily go back and engage in the evil that caused Christ's death?
    When Paul says, "you died,@ he is really saying that you cannot continue in those evil things because you are so thankful that Christ died to forgive you of them.
  "Now, just a minute,@ you say. "If I walk away from all that I used to live for, what would I live for?@
  The answer is in the second part of the passage: "Your life is now hidden with Christ in God.@
  How does the fact that "you died . . .@ help you to set your mind on things above?
 

~Stuart Briscoe~