Episode 1564: Set Your Mind

In today’s Spiritual Foundation Episode, I talk about Colossians 3: 1-11. I share how we are called to set our eyes on things above. I also share how that doesn’t mean ignoring the reality of today but living into it differently.

Show Notes and Resources.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Thanks for joining me on episode 1564 of the Inspired Stewardship
Podcast. I'm Brian Slade.
I challenge you to invest in yourself,
invest in others,
develop your influence and impact the world by using your time,
your talent and your treasures to live out your true calling.

(00:20):
Having the ability to recognize what you do have control of
and how it can help you deal with trauma is key
and one way to remain inspired is to listen to this
podcast with Scott Maynard.
Each and every moment we have to invite Jesus to come

(00:46):
into our head and our hearts and our fingers and our
toes and every soul and cell of our being,
to be able to have even the hope of turning our
eyes to that that is above.
Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship
Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God

(01:09):
wants you to be,
then you must learn to use your time,
your talent and your treasures for your true calling.
In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast you will learn to invest in
yourself, invest in others,
and develop your influence so that you impact the world.

(01:34):
In today's spiritual Foundation Episode I Talk about Colossians 3:1:11.
I share how we are called to set our eyes on
things above,
and I also share how that doesn't mean ignoring the reality
of today,
but rather living into it deep differently.
Colossians 3:1 11 says,

(01:56):
if 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 the things that are above,
not on the things that are on earth.
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ
in God.
When Christ who is your life is revealed,
then you also will be revealed with him in glory,

(02:18):
put to death.
Therefore whatever in you is earthly,
sexual immorality,
impurity, passion,
evil, desire and greed,
which is idolatry.
On account of these the wrath of God is coming on
those who are disobedient.
These are the ways you also once followed when you were
living that life.
But now you must get rid of all such things,

(02:41):
anger, wrath,
malice, slander and abusive language from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another,
seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its
practices and have clothed yourself with the new self,
which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of
its Creator.
In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew,

(03:02):
circumcised and uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian,
enslaved and free.
But Christ is all and in all there are a lot
of different spirituals and songs that talk about keeping your mind
or your eyes on Jesus Keeping your eyes on that that

(03:24):
is above.
And this Colossians has that message.
That message is repeated throughout the Bible.
It's in Romans,
Philippians, First Chronicles,
Ezekiel, all throughout.
It's a rather common theme,
that invitation to keep one's mind on Jesus or to keep

(03:46):
our look on that is above.
It makes it clear that one of our tasks,
if not our only task as followers of Jesus,
is to set our minds to the task of following Jesus.
Let's face it,
saying that seems simple.
Just focus your mind,
turn your attention,
turn your thinking towards following and then all kinds of goodness

(04:11):
and growth will follow.
It seems like it's the power of positive thinking.
Think it,
imagine it,
and it is yours.
Those sorts of trite messages,
making it sound like it's easy as pie,
but let's face it,
it's simple,
but it's really not easy.

(04:32):
We live in a world of distraction and distractions.
There are voices and messages and images that constantly surround us
and pound into our face about how horrible this is,
how bad that is,
judge this,
fight this,
or alternatively,
how without this you won't be successful,
you won't be happy.

(04:54):
Whether you have attention deficit or simply being bombarded with all
of the messages that come,
it's hard to to keep your mind focused on Jesus and
the call to live into that.
After all the messages tell us all of this other stuff
is the most important thing.

(05:15):
If we don't live this way,
by this way,
act this way,
do this thing,
then we won't be all that we can be.
And it's exhausting.
It's exhausting to fight against that.
And keep your eye on what is important,
keep your mind and your thoughts on what is really important.

(05:37):
To swim against the tide,
so to speak,
or to change the orientation of our thinking,
setting our mind on things that are above,
not on things that are on earth.
Think about that.
What does that even mean?
Are we supposed to go around with our heads in the
clouds, not paying attention to the world around us?

(05:59):
But that doesn't seem to be really effective or even safe.
If you're heavenly minded so much that you can do no
earthly good,
is that really the life we're called to live?
Is that what Paul is calling for here?
To set our minds so that we become disconnected from,

(06:22):
from the real world,
from life?
At first glance it might seem so.
After all,
he gives us this list and says put to death anything
earthly. And he gives us a list of things that he's
talking about.
It might seem like a harsh message.
Put these things to death.

(06:42):
It's necessary,
but it's harsh.
But then a little later,
he tells us a second list,
and he changes the language.
He doesn't say,
put it to death.
He says,
get rid of this.
And in fact,
the things he taught us to get rid of,
anger, wrath,
malice, slander,
abusive language,

(07:03):
and do not lie in one way.
If you look at the list,
the things that he's telling us to put to death,
these are things that are within us.
They're broken passions,
they're lust,
they're paying attention,
greed, paying attention to things and making things into gods that
aren't gods.

(07:23):
They're the things that we have control over and we can
judge ourselves for.
They're the things going on in our heart and our soul
and our mind.
But then he turns,
and the list of things he says get rid of are
actually about ways we interact with others.
They're ways we talk to others.
They're ways we interact with others.

(07:46):
They're ways that we treat other people.
If we're supposed to set our minds on things that are
above, not the things that we see around us all the
time, then we have to interact with everyone,
even our enemies,
differently from what seems to be the matter.
Of course,

(08:07):
setting your mind above means not that we're so wrapped up
in heaven that we live as if we are already there
and treat one another in a way that doesn't build community
and compassion and caring.
No. On the other hand,
it really says we treat others as if not only we

(08:28):
are already in heaven,
but so are they.
We have compassion and caring even if they're not the kind
of person that we would love.
Even if they're the enemy,
the kind of person that we should hate in the world
tells us we should treat them badly.
We still treat them with compassion and caring and love.

(08:49):
It changes the standard of behavior and respect to give honor
to God by giving honor to those who are created in
God's image.
And that is all of us.
And let's face it,
that call that is beyond us,

(09:11):
we can't handle that on our own.
We can't do it on our own.
We tend to judge others no matter what.
But thankfully,
it's not something we're asked to do on our own.
That's the true call of discipleship.
There's a helper.

(09:31):
There's a presence.
The Holy Spirit can be called upon to help us to
turn our eyes back to where it belongs each and every
moment. Because we will be drawn away each and every moment.
We have to invite Jesus to come into our head and
our hearts and our fingers and our toes,

(09:53):
and every soul and cell of our being,
to be able to have even the hope of turning our
eyes to that is above.
Thanks for listening.
Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

(10:16):
As a subscriber and listener,
we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen,
but act on what you've heard and find a way to
live your calling.
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(10:42):
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Until next time,
invest your time,
your talent,
and your treasures.
Develop your influence and impact the world.