Col. 3:2 ... "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth."
This exhortation is set in a context concerning the nature of being converted to Christ. In Paul's explanation, conversion involves the death, burial, and resurrection of a person, not in the physical sense, but in a mental and spiritual way. In v.12 of the previous chapter he reminded his Christian readers that they had "been buried with Him (Christ) in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead." As Jesus was raised from the grave, even so a person is raised from the water of baptism into a new life. The death thus experienced is the end of the old nature contaminated by sin, from which the person is evermore to keep himself separated. The one who rises from baptism is different from the one who went down into it. He still looks the same and retains the same identifying features as before. But something has changed, something is different. It cannot be seen with the eye, at least not immediately, for it is an inward, spiritual change. In time, however, the change will become evident to observers, since outward conduct reflects the condition of the heart.
The difference is a fundamental change in one's interests and goals in life. Everyone sets his mind on the course of interests and ambitions for whatever he thinks will bring fulfillment, satisfaction, and pleasure when he interacts with it. The world is so full of things that offer these rewards and tantalize us to go for them. We do not all direct our lives at the same objects, however, since that which appeals to one person may not beckon to another at all. What lures one person toward it may offer minimum attraction to someone else. But the things on the earth which our text cautions us not to grasp for are so many and so enticing that no one journeys through life without hearing their siren call. When one answers and engages himself in what is offered, he is indeed rewarded. While the effect endures, he experiences a good feeling that enriches his life with identity and meaning. But it is right there that the failure appears in indulgence in the things of the world. They do not endure for very long, but begin to fade almost as soon as they are achieved. The Bible never denies the initial pleasing sensation of sin, but it warns all who will listen that the effect is fleeting. Heb. 11:25 speaks of the enjoyment of "the pleasures of sin," only to add hastily that they are "passing." Whatever exhilarates you today will not repeat its performance so well tomorrow because its construction has already been changed. Tomorrow it can do no more than bring mild satisfaction, and the day after that it is no longer present to stimulate a good feeling. In the end, all the things of this world will enter the past tense as time becomes eternity. We are told in I Jno. 2:17 that "the world is passing away, and also its lusts."
We need something that will please us and not ruin us in the experience thereof, something that never changes and is not consumed in the using. That "something" certainly exists and is available to everyone who will seek it through Jesus. It is not to be found in the world of physical, temporal things that attract the great bulk of mankind. It is to be found only "above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God," (Col. 3:1). It is upon that higher, perfect, eternal world that the Christian must "set his mind" from the time he is raised from the water of baptism as a new creature. And it is to that future glorious home that he must keep looking day after day as he threads his way through this life of material experiences.
