It is astonishing how little attention we give to the place we're going to spend a gazillion years. We know more about iPhone upgrades, framed TVs, Toyota Sequoias, and Black Friday deals than we do about the place Jesus says He's gone to prepare for us.
Scripture Focus: Colossians 3:1-2; Proverbs 23:7; Romans 12:2
"Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."
"As a man thinks within himself, so he is."
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
CS Lewis said, "It is because Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one."
Think with me for a moment. Paul follows this pattern throughout his epistles. He talks about what God has done for us in Christ, and then he proceeds to talk about how we live in light of that. In the first three chapters of Ephesians, there are 66 verses and only one command: remember what God has done. He's seated us in the heavenly places. He saved us because He's rich in mercy. He made us alive. And then Paul turns a corner and says, "Because of all these things, walk in a manner worthy of the gospel."
In Colossians 3, you see the same idea. Therefore—that word is the hinge point—set your mind on things above.
That word for "seek" in the Greek is zateo. It's the same word used in Luke 19:10 where it says that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. It's a present active verb—continually, progressively, constantly seeking. It's the same word used in Luke 15 to describe the shepherd persistently searching for his lost sheep.
Listen to this. The sum and substance of the Christian life is what you think upon with your mind. Show me what a man thinks about and I'll show you who that man really is. Proverbs 23:7 says, "As a man thinks within himself, so he is."
When's the last time you sat down at dinner and said, "What are you most excited for about glory?" What thrills your heart? Because out of the heart, the mouth speaks. The tongue is the MRI of our heart. It tells us what we treasure.
Every head ought to perk up when I talk about heaven. Every person ought to go, "Oh—home."
A foggy view of the world to come results in a foggy resolve to live wholly and solely for Jesus Christ in this one.
Florence Chadwick was in 1952 the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. She tried to swim from Catalina Island to the mainland of California. After fifteen hours, exhausted, begging to be pulled out. Her mother in the boat nearby kept saying, "You're almost there, honey. Keep swimming." She stopped. They pulled her out. And as soon as she was in the boat, she realized through the fog she was just yards from the shore.
The next day they asked her why she gave up. She said, "It was so foggy I couldn't see. If I could have only seen the shore, I think I could have made it."
Listen. This life is foggy. It's saturated with difficulty and sometimes drenched with sorrow. If you don't see the shore, you're going to get wrapped up in the fog.
1. If someone listened to your conversations for a week, would they think you treasure heaven or this world?
2. What are you currently setting your mind on more—the things above or the things on earth?
3. When did you last sit down and deliberately think about heaven?
Stay dialed in