Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.** Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV)**
Scripture tells us a believer’s life should be dominated by thoughts of things above – dwelling on the higher rather than the lower objects of nature. The more we dwell on something the bigger it gets in our eyes, Amen? Our hearts are to be captivated by Christ. Believers are to be bringing heaven down to earth – so to speak – focusing our attention and our lives on Jesus – making much of Him through His power and for His glory. When we fix our focus on things above, we are seeking to center our lives on the ascended One – to walk as He walked. We bring Jesus down to the earth through His indwelling power. Paul tells us in Galatians 2:20 (NIV): “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Dead to self, alive to Christ. This is why believers in Christ Jesus are told in all four Gospels to deny self and take up our cross and follow Him. And this is joyful submission as we know He has our very best interest at heart. He desires for His people to display Kingdom values so that the world may know Him. We are to set our minds for action. To walk as He walked. Putting flesh on our faith through His power and for His glory.
It does us well to remember that God is all wise, that God is almighty and that God loves us with an everlasting love. He is for us and not against us. And to be like Him, we must be much with Him – to spend time in His Word and in prayer and in practice of what He is teaching us. We are all in process – He is still working on every.single.one.of.us. And His desire is to use weak vessels like us – emptied of self – and filled with the fullness of Him to do His bidding. This is to take hold of the life that is truly life, and one without regrets. It was what each one of us was created for. Those in Christ are all imperfect people on His perfect path enabled and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit and guided by the Word of God. To be like God we are to be much with God. He is a “with us” God.
As Paul writes in Ephesians 4:10 (NIV): “He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.” Christ Who is the “fullness of the Godhead in bodily form” fills the universe and is head over everything.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Philippians 3:12-16 (NIV)