Set Your Minds on Things of God

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Colossians 3:1-10 ESV)

And in Romans 6:4,6-7,12 we read that “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.” “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.”

So, faith in Jesus Christ, if it is genuine God-gifted and God-persuaded faith, will result in us dying with Christ to sin, us being raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, and us now walking by the Spirit in holy living in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. But this passage in Colossians 3 brings into question if that has indeed taken place, and if it has, then what is described here is what our lives should look like as followers of Jesus Christ who have died to sin and who are now living to God to do his will.

Many people today, however, are skirting over these passages of Scripture, or they are twisting them to say something different from what they are saying. For they are not teaching that we must die with Christ to sin and be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. But they are teaching that a mere profession of faith in Christ is enough to secure heaven for us for eternity, but regardless of how we live.

But it is impossible for us to read such Scriptures as this, and in Romans 6, and in many other passages of Scripture in the New Testament, and to honestly walk away convinced that our sins no longer matter to God and so we can go on sinning, for his grace covers it all. For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives, for the glory of God, while we wait for our Lord’s soon return (see Titus 2:11-14).

So please know that the Scriptures do not teach what so many charlatans and “wolves in sheep’s clothing” are teaching today which is that once we “pray the prayer” or we make a confession of faith in Jesus Christ that heaven is now secured us regardless of how we live. For in Romans 6 alone it teaches us that if we present ourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, we are slaves of the one whom we obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which ends in eternal life with God (see Romans 6:16-23).

Therefore, as those of genuine faith in Jesus Christ, who have died with Christ to sin, and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, we are to set our minds on the things of God and not on the things of this sinful world. So, by the Spirit, we are to put to death what is earthly in us. And that is a lifetime process of sanctification whereby we die daily to sin and to self and we walk in holiness and in righteousness in walks of obedience and in surrender to our Lord Jesus Christ (see Luke 9:23-26).

But just because this is a process of sanctification that does not give us permission to keep on in deliberate and habitual sin while claiming, “It is a process.” For we are to die to sin, not continue living in it. We are to put to death sexual immorality, impurity, evil desire, idolatry, malice, slander, obscene talk, lying, cheating, stealing, and the like. For if we do not, and we continue in these, we will not inherit eternal life with God, but we will die in our sins (Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 5:3-6; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; etc.).

And then we are to be seeking the things that are from above, which are of God, and not of this sinful world. We should desire to obey our Lord and not to try to find wiggle room for getting out of having to obey him. He should now be our desire, and we should long to please him with our lives. And we should take his Word seriously and obey it in his power. For our lives should now be surrendered to our Lord to do his will, and we should want for him to lead us in his path of righteousness, for we love him.

A Believer’s Prayer 

An Original Work / July 31, 2012

With my whole heart, Lord, I pray 

To be Yours, and Yours always.

Lead me in Your truth today.

May I love You, and obey.

Lead me in Your righteousness.

When I sin, may I confess;

Bow before You when I pray;

Live for You and You always.

Love You, Jesus, You’re my friend.

Life with You will never end.

You are with me through each day,

Giving love and peace always.

You will ne’er abandon me.

From my sin You set me free.

You died on that cruel tree,

So I’d live eternally.

Soon You’re coming back for me;

From this world to set me free;

Live with You eternally.

Oh, what joy that brings to me.

I will walk with You in white;

A pure bride, I’ve been made right

By the blood of Jesus Christ;

Pardoned by His sacrifice.

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