Colossians 3:1-4

The following is a Bible study originally posted on our Bible Study Group.

Hi!
I love the heading that the New King James Version has over these verses:
"Character of the Christian Life and Home." This so wonderfully captures
what I want to talk about through the next few weeks -- and why we chose the
book of Colossians to study in the first place! This is where the "rubber
meets the road."

Have your circumstances ever been so bleak that you were sure things
couldn't look any worse? I know mine have. The tears flow, you feel like
kicking something, you feel like just giving up.

Or...

Have your circumstances ever been so bright that you felt like you were
floating? You could conquer the world! You are lost in a world of dreams
and excitement. Who needs God?

It is in times like these -- times of utter lows and extreme highs -- that
the words in Colossians 3:1-4 mean so much. "If then you were raised with
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the
right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the
earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When
Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in
glory."

We've been discussing how our power for living is "other-worldly." God, in
His unique and awesome power, raised His dear Son from the grave, and He
exerts that same tremendous power over our sinful lives. Praise God!

So, since we were risen with Christ, we need to set our eyes on Jesus and
train our minds to seek things above. Why? Because the same God who reigns
over all the world has complete control over our circumstances, no matter
how dire. Job realized this. When problems were at their worst, he raised
his voice in worship and said, "Though He [God] slay me, yet will I trust
Him (Job 13:15)."

We need to train our minds ("seek" and "set") to look above. We'd rather
try to take our circumstances into our own hands. However, Paul reminds us
that we died. We need to daily remind ourselves that our lives are hidden
with Christ in God. My concordance says that the word "hidden" means that
we are protected in Christ. Our circumstances can threaten, like a
windstorm howling around our home on a dark night. Yet they can't really
touch us! Our lives are hidden in God.

And when times are looking up -- so "up" that we forget God --we need to
remember that Christ is our life. Our own actions, no matter how splendid,
are nothing without Christ's power.

These verses end with a promise that reminds us to focus on eternity rather
than today. "When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear
with Him in glory." I am a firm believer in the rapture (see 1
Thessalonians 4:16-18). We don't need to fear the future, the end times,
the scary turn of events of present-day news stories -- none of it. Christ
has not only conquered death, our sin, and our problems. He has conquered
the future!

1 John 3:2 says, "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet
been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." So because our past is
dealt with, our present is cared for, and our future is secure, set your
mind on things above!

Okay, practically speaking... what does this look like in every day life?
How do we "seek those things which are above"? How do we "set our minds on
things above"? Does this mean we should not try to make a budget or a
grocery list or do laundry? Are those things beneath us now?

I'd love to hear your thoughts! (And stay tuned... the following verses
will go into more detail!)

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