Set your affections

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. – Colossians 3.1-2

Our minds are in a constant battle. On one hand the world does everything is can to get our attention. It is bright and flashy and exciting and appealing. It appeals to our flesh. It catches our eye and then it will hardly let go. It is a hard draw to ignore.

And yet, on the other hand, we have Christ and all the glories of heaven and all of His riches. We know that is where our future lies. We know that is where our hope is. We know that one day ‘it will be worth it all, when we see Christ.’

Following Christ doesn’t come naturally. That is why we have to be told to ‘seek the things that are above.’ The old King James translation says in verse 2 ‘set your affections on things above.’ I kind of like that translation. How do we do if we honestly ask ourselves ‘where are my affections today?’

The truth is here that we have a choice on where to place our affections, or to put it another way, we can choose what we are to think about and dwell on and seek and desire and go after.

Jesus told that if we would seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness then everything else would take care of itself.

The first step in the battle for our minds is to think about the right things. We must replace our earthly affections with heavenly ones. It’s the same old story – don’t look at the seen, but the unseen. The seen things are all temporary, but the unseen things are eternal.

Let’s determine today set our attention and emotions and minds on things above and not be so attentive to the flashy things that catch our eyes.