July 10 – Escape to Reality (Colossians 3:1-10)

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
(Colossians 3:2)

IN WORD:
The core of wisdom, the heart of this transformation that we call sanctification and Paul calls the renewal of the mind, is summed up in this verse. We set our minds on different things than we once set them on. In our thinking, we exchange the temporal for the eternal, the worthless for the valuable, the profane for the holy, and the self for Christ. We no longer pursue darkness, only light. We no longer pursue money, only treasure. We no longer pursue our reputation, only His. We stand in a radically different place.
That place is where Christ is. Did you know that we are with Him? That’s the basis of Paul’s declaration: We have been raised with Him. We are seated where He is seated, and He lives in the depths of our hearts, where we once thought we reigned. It only makes sense, then, that we would be thoroughly absorbed in our new dwelling and our new life. Not to be preoccupied with eternal realities would be ridiculously out of touch with the fact of our new nature. We would be escapists, fantasizing about worthless things and neglecting unimaginable riches. We would be like pigs transformed into princes, but who still prefer slop. We’d have no sense.
Yet this is where many Christians live. We have a hard time thinking about the reality we can’t see, though it is very, very real. We’re well trained in the ways of this world, immersed in false philosophies. We harbor old thoughts. So Paul must instruct the Colossian believers who, like us, are hounded by false perspectives. Set your minds where Christ is and where, in fact, you are too.

IN DEED:
This is a discipline. We’ve perhaps been taught that disciplining the mind to think in a certain way is similar to brain-washing, an artificial escape from reality. But for us, setting our minds on the things above is an escape into reality. It puts us practically where we are positionally. It renews our minds and it makes us truly wise.

“May the mind of Christ my Savior live in me from day to day.”
-Kate B. Wilkinson-