A Pause to Ponder God's Word
"Setting Our Hearts and Minds On..."

There are some things we have control of and there are things we don’t. There are things only God can do and there are things He mandates us to do. What He does we cannot; what He tells us to do He will not.  Scripture clearly notes that we are participants in God’s transforming work. Richard Foster insightfully captures this astounding fact in his book Life With God: “From the outset, God has made clear to us that we have a freedom to choose for or against this with-God life. Obedience is mandated for our well-being but not imposed by force”

God instructs us through Paul’s letter to the Colossians: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:1-2)

We were dead in our sin but by grace through faith we have been raised to life – not mere biological existence, but eternal God-breathed life. God desires to transform us, our whole beings, restoring within us His very image, the image He gave us in creation. Only He can raise us, only He can transform us, but he does not impose His will and work upon us. He calls us to obedience and empowers us to follow His instructions. We are responsible for setting our hearts and minds on the things above!

We cannot escape the finger-pointing imperative here – “you who have been raised to life, set…! The word in the original language denotes a “seeking to find”, “a desire or craving”, “think and mediate”. This is our responsibility. We are to desire, crave, seek to find, set, our hearts and minds on holy things. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think on such things. (Philippians 4:8-9)

Despite common belief, thoughts and appetites can be changed and controlled.  Once we have been raised to new life in Christ His abiding Spirit empowers us to be self-controlled. A sound-mind, self-control are expressions of the fruit of the Spirit. We are empowered to nurture our relationship with God so that our hearts increasingly crave, desire, seek the holy, the pure, the godly. We, through communion and conversation with Jesus, shape our hearts’ appetites to desire holiness in all things. The fulfillment of our human God-given desires is subjected to fulfillment in accordance to His will. And the pursuit of the earthly, the material, increasingly wanes as our passionate pursuit of the things above increases. He must grow greater and I must become less (John 3:30). This doesn’t just happen. It requires our drawing upon the divine enablement to discipline our hearts, nurture our appetites, and develop our desires. We must set our heart on things above!

We may not be able to control what thought pops into our minds, but once it is there we can take it captive and subject it to God’s will (2 Corinthians 10:5). Though we are empowered to take thoughts captive, we are responsible to take it captive. That requires our diligent intentional effort to fill our minds with the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. We can and must train ourselves by divine enablement through God’s Word – hearing, reading, studying, learning, meditating, memorizing – to think on these things, to think Christian, to have the mind of Christ. We must set our mind on things above!

We need to understand that our choices are inextricably connected to our hearts and minds. This is one reason it is so essential to set our hearts and minds on things above. It is through our loving obedience in setting our hearts and minds of the things above that God’s grace restores the Image of God in our hearts and transforms our minds to the mind of Christ. Our ability to walk the walk, live the holy life, and experience the fullness of Christ Jesus is contingent upon our setting our hearts and minds on things above. This is not works righteousness. It is responsible grace! It is not receiving God’s grace in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1-2). Rather it is receiving God’s grace and with its empowering applying ourselves to holy responsible living.

Beloved, let us not delay!  Today, everyday, since we have been raised with Christ Jesus, let us (individually and corporately) set our hearts and minds on Christ Jesus that we may live faithfully and be used by God in the accomplishment of His plans and purposes.

Keep Close to Jesus
Pastor Gerry


A Pause To Ponder God's Word is written and distributed by Gerald Whetstone, Ordained Elder and teacher in the Church of the Nazarene. These devotionals may be transmitted, duplicated, used in part or in entirety without permission for nonprofit purposes only. Responses welcome. To Subscribe Click Here.
Return to Devotional Index