“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.”

I have chosen Colossians 3:1-3 as my life verse/passage because of all my favorite verses, it is the one most exhortative in nature, upon which I can willfully choose an appropriate action minute by minute of each and every day. True, the first and greatest commandment, found in Matthew 22:37, is indeed the first and greatest commandment; but for me, personally, meditating on the vague concept of ‘loving God’ does not provide enough of a specific action to take throughout the day. It is a great starting point and encapsulating thought by which I do indeed live, but Colossians 3 better answers the ‘how’ question.

Now, in Greek thought, this verse might be interpreted as a command to meditate on the spiritual instead of the physical – or on the ‘things’ of an invisible heaven far above instead of on the tangible things on this earth. However, this sort of thinking wrongly creates a horizontal boundary line between our dwelling place and God’s, as if this earth were entirely evil. On the contrary, both good and evil things exist in the natural realm and the supernatural realm. If we look at the context of this passage, the following verses elaborate on what “the things above” and “the things of earth” really are. A fair amount of heaven is within our grasp where we’re at. Teleportation to another solar system is not necessary. In fact, Jesus lived a perfect life of holiness right here on this planet.

“We have put off the old self and have put on the new self, being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” We were created in His image, and the entire earth is full of His glory. I want to search that glory out. The evil things are prevalent in today’s world but not nearly to the extent of His glory. His command to us is to ‘seek’ and to ‘set’ – find that which is of Him and upon that set our minds. And when our minds are set on such, the things of this world will have no place.

My life vision is to love God wholeheartedly, but this is how I aim to live this vision out on a daily basis.