Colossians 3:1-4, 12:14

Brothers and sisters in Christ, 

This evening’s Bible passage is Colossians 3:1-4, 12-14:

¹ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory… ¹² Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Christ’s resurrection was both unique and inclusive. It was one of a kind and it embraces all who are now or ever will be in Christ: we “have been raised with Christ” (v. 1). Not only were we represented by him on the cross and in his victory over death, but we who were by nature “dead in [our] trespasses” have also been “made alive” (Col. 2:13) in the here and now by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are free, therefore, to “set [our] minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

But what exactly does Paul mean by “things that are above” and “things that are on earth”? At first glance, it all sounds a little otherworldly, doesn’t it? Thankfully, Paul clarifies his meaning in terms that are easy for us to understand. The “things that are on earth” are the sinful attitudes and behaviors that he catalogs in 3:5-10. The “things that are above” are the godly attitudes and behaviors toward others that he commends in 3:12-14.

Okay, but why does Paul call these “the things that are above”? It’s not a spatial description, as if somewhere way up high these qualities floated around for our virtuous contemplation. Nor is it simply a measure of value. These qualities are “above” because they are the qualities of God himself, fully revealed in Christ. “Our Father in heaven” is compassionate, kind, humble (yes! He died for us), meek (yes! He doesn’t force himself on us), patient, and forgiving. Above all, God is love.

Think of the Lord’s Prayer. When we pray for God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven,” we are acknowledging the radical difference between the quality of life in heaven and the quality of life on our badly broken (but still, by God’s grace, so beautiful) earth. Those who “have been raised with Christ” are called to live in a way that makes life on earth a little more like life in heaven. 

This is not, then, an otherworldly vision. We are not invited to set our minds on fluffy, white clouds and winged angels plucking harps. Nor are we to strive after some kind of super-spiritual detachment from life on earth. Our task is easy enough to understand and very hard to do. We who “have been raised with Christ” are to treat our fellow human beings with the compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, and love that God has already shown us.

We fail, of course. Or, at least, we fail to do all this in a way that mirrors the perfect and unwavering love of God. COVID-19 has given us the opportunity to find new and creative ways of caring for one another. I’ve been delighted to see how well the Lake Trails congregation is managing this. My purpose here, though, is not to urge us to do better. A much better way of ending this meditation is to remind us all that, although we fall short, God remains perfectly compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving, and loving. As we remember this, we’ll be setting our minds “on things that are above.” Doing so has a way of changing how we live here on earth.

Your brother in Christ,

Max