3 min
Colossians 3:2 Built on the Rock
-
- Christianity
In this chapter of Colossians, Paul is giving clear instructions to the Christians of Colossae about living out their faith in Christ. More specifically, verses 1-11 are an encouragement for Christian believers to focus on godly, spiritual things. Those who are saved, thanks to their faith in Christ, and are spiritually free, should not live in the sins which used to be their habit. Paul goes as far as telling believers to "put to death" such behaviors in their own lives.
Today's verse repeats a theme found in verse 1:
"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the hand of God."Colossians 3:1This passage is meant for Christians, and we're told here that rather than looking to the earth around us, our minds should be focused on "above" - the things of God. Something we find in the New Testament is this phrase of focusing on "above," in which this is referring to God (John 3:31; 8:23; Ephesians 4:10) or heaven (James 1:17).
So, in light of this context, what would be "things of earth?" Anything associated with ungodly activities. Let's look at an example of what the Bible says about seeking earthly wisdom, specifically James 3:15:
"This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic."James 3:15And in contrast, what the Bible says about wisdom "from above:"
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.James 3:17You may be wondering at this point, "am I supposed to abandon earthly concern?" And the answer is: no. This isn't what these verses mean. However, it does mean that as believers, we ought to give our time and attention to things that are pleasing and acceptable to God, rather than things that are pleasing to men. If those things happen to coincide, that's great. But our primary concern and attention are on that of pleasing God. As believers, and therefore we are all unified in Christ, we should act as people committed to our Savior.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
In this chapter of Colossians, Paul is giving clear instructions to the Christians of Colossae about living out their faith in Christ. More specifically, verses 1-11 are an encouragement for Christian believers to focus on godly, spiritual things. Those who are saved, thanks to their faith in Christ, and are spiritually free, should not live in the sins which used to be their habit. Paul goes as far as telling believers to "put to death" such behaviors in their own lives.
Today's verse repeats a theme found in verse 1:
"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the hand of God."Colossians 3:1This passage is meant for Christians, and we're told here that rather than looking to the earth around us, our minds should be focused on "above" - the things of God. Something we find in the New Testament is this phrase of focusing on "above," in which this is referring to God (John 3:31; 8:23; Ephesians 4:10) or heaven (James 1:17).
So, in light of this context, what would be "things of earth?" Anything associated with ungodly activities. Let's look at an example of what the Bible says about seeking earthly wisdom, specifically James 3:15:
"This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic."James 3:15And in contrast, what the Bible says about wisdom "from above:"
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.James 3:17You may be wondering at this point, "am I supposed to abandon earthly concern?" And the answer is: no. This isn't what these verses mean. However, it does mean that as believers, we ought to give our time and attention to things that are pleasing and acceptable to God, rather than things that are pleasing to men. If those things happen to coincide, that's great. But our primary concern and attention are on that of pleasing God. As believers, and therefore we are all unified in Christ, we should act as people committed to our Savior.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
3 min