If you then 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.
Colossians 3:1-3.
As believers we have died with Christ “from the basic principles of the world” (ch.2:v.20) and have been raised with Him. God sees us as totally separated from the hostile world and all that has its origin in it. He sees us as associated with Christ in new life. This life has its own elements: “those things that are above”.
What is above? Christ Himself, with whose glory the Spirit of God seeks to occupy us: “He will take of what is mine and declare it to you” (John 14:16). This means everything that God has granted us in Christ, the “spiritual blessings in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3). These riches are not just lying by the wayside, so that one might stumble on them by chance. We have to search for them. We need to open our eyes, wanting to see them, for Christ is no longer on the earth. He is at God’s right hand.
Medicine can only be effective, if it is taken. Similarly, heaven’s riches can only have a blessed, transforming effect, if our thoughts are consciously engaged with Christ in glory. This will lead to our wish for them to be kept ever alive, in other words, that we “set our minds” on them. May our prayer be: Lord Jesus, open my eyes to behold your glory!
Image: By Lucas Cranach the Elder – Ophelia2, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12450280