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Hi, this is Pastor Tom Holiday and I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time
Devotions. This is week three of our look through Colossians, Colossians chapter
three this week. We're going to look at verses one and two today.

I love this book, the book of Colossians. In a lot of ways it really distills
down in very short form the core truths that we need. Colossians one distilled
down the truth about who Jesus is, that he's God.

Colossians chapter two distills down the truth about what you and I need to
believe, watch out for false teaching, hang on to the truth. And now as we enter
into Colossians chapter three and Colossians chapter four, they are chapters
about the way to live out the truth of Colossians one and two. How do I live the
life that God has given me to live?

If you're one of those people who likes to get right to the point, who really
likes somebody just to say, look, here it is, here it is about Jesus, here it is
about what's true and what's false, here it is about how to live the life that
God's given me to live. Colossians is the book for you. And Colossians three is
a chapter about living your new life, three, one and two.

Here's what those verses say, "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.

" You see how he just gets right to the point? Set your heart and set your mind,
he says. You want to live the new life that God's given you to live since you
have been raised with Christ.

Since you have a new life, then here's what you do, you set your heart and you
set your mind. Set, that means you and I have to make a choice, you have to make
a choice. God has done the work of salvation, but I have a daily choice about
where I'm going to set my heart and where I'm going to set my mind.

Set your heart, set your mind. Set your affections, your heart, and your
thoughts, your mind. Our hearts shape our passions and our thoughts shape our
priorities.

And you put those together, your passions and your priorities, your affections
and your thoughts, those all add up to your actions. What are you going to do in
everyday life? When you take a look at your thoughts, you ask yourself, "What
are the three things that I think about most during the day and what direction
do your thoughts drift?

" The Bible says set your hearts and set your thoughts on the things of God.
Where are you set in your thoughts? What's the spiritual compass of your life?

That's what this is asking here. What should it be? Well, Paul has an answer.

Set your hearts on things above. Set your minds on things above. For both heart
and mind, Paul says here's the set point, here's the compass, here's the north
star.

You set it on things above. Get your mind off the earthly. That doesn't mean,
remember as we've studied through the Bible, earthly does not mean people on
this earth or things God has given you to do on this earth.

That means the earthly way of thinking. That means the selfish way of thinking.
Get your minds off of the earthly and get your mind onto the heavenly.

What's the heavenly all about? Well, Paul described it here. On things above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

When I get my mind on what's heavenly, what am I thinking about? Well, it's
where Christ is seated, where Jesus is right now. What does that say to me in
everyday life?

How does that help me to live out the life that God has given me to live? Or
remember this, where Christ is seated is a place of two things. It is a place of
authority and it's a place of security.

Where Christ is seated in the heavenlies, he's seated there at the right hand of
God because it's a place of authority. Jesus is Lord of all. The Queen of
England, the President of the United States, the believer in Jesus Christ.

In one sense, we're all of equal authority here on this earth when compared to
the ultimate authority of Jesus Christ because he is Lord of all. Ephesians 2. 6
says God has raised us up with Jesus and seated us with him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus.

So in one sense, we are there with him, enjoying that spiritual authority. It's
a place of authority. It's also a place of security.

The Bible tells us in the book of Romans that Jesus there in heaven is praying,
is interceding for us at the right hand of God. Jesus is praying for me. You get
your mind on that.

Whatever you have done today or not done, whatever prayers you prayed or not
prayed, Jesus is there in heaven praying for you. Jesus is there in heaven
interceding on your behalf. That is a place of security.

Set your heart, set your mind, your affections and your thoughts, your passions
and your priorities. You set them on the authority and the security of Jesus
Christ in the heavenly places. Now, as I say that, I think most of us realize
that's a good thing to do, not just to get all caught up in my own selfish life
and certainly not to get caught up in the temptations of this world.

That's not where I want my life to be caught. Well, here's the question. How do
we do that?

How do we set our mind on things above? It's one thing to say this, it's quite
another thing to do it. The power to do this is in one word.

It's one word that's indicated at the beginning of what we just read. Since
then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts and minds on things
above. Since you've been raised with Christ, the word is resurrection, the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I can't do this. I can't set my mind or heart on things above except that I have
been raised with Christ. But since I have been raised with Christ, that is
something I can do.

And so, Lloyd John Ogilvie says about these verses, "Victorious resurrection
living can be realized through a conscious, habitual pattern of thought and
attitude of heart. But the power behind it all is the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. " That's where the power comes from.

When I remember that Jesus not only died for me, but he has raised from the dead
for me, that gives me the power to think in a new way and to feel in a new way.
We are raised with Christ. So when Paul says, "I want you to set your mind and
heart in a new direction," he doesn't just say, "Do it as someone who knows that
Jesus was raised one day.

" It's not just a historical fact that I'm thinking about. No, I am raised with
Christ, resurrected with him. That means you share his life as I trust in Jesus
Christ.

Because of your trust in Christ, you share his resurrection life. Think about
this with me for just a minute. You share his life.

What do you admire most about the life of Christ? When you think of reading
about Jesus and the Gospels, what he did, how he worked, how he served, what do
you admire most about the life of Christ? Is it his love?

Is it his devotion to God? Is it his boldness with people? Is it his power in
difficult situations?

Is it his gentleness with people that we're hurting? What is it that you admire
most about the life of Christ? This idea of the resurrection life, this truth
that you have been raised with Christ means that his life is now your life and
he wants to work that life through your life.

So the truth behind setting my mind and setting my heart on things above is the
truth of the resurrection. Now, before we end today, let's just talk in very
practical terms. There's a lot of people have said to me, "Give me some
practical help on this.

How do you set your heart and how do you set your mind? " I mean, just thinking
the word resurrection isn't enough. Just knowing that truth isn't enough.

A set heart, a set mind, that's the basic attitude and focus that you live with
each day and it's sort of like a radio station. You can tune your heart and mind
into various attitudes and you can leave it there. Sometimes for weeks on end.

You can leave your attitude in self-pity or in bitterness or in stubbornness.
You can leave it there for a long time. So how do you retune the station?

Well, it's by choosing some things that cause you to focus on the resurrection
life of Christ. Here's some ideas. You can start the night before and the first
thing in each day, you can think about God.

It's amazing how the last thing you think at night and the first thing you think
in to set your heart and mind. You can pray throughout the day that God would
give you a heavenly perspective on people and events and circumstances. And
these can be very short prayers, like one or two word prayers, "God help, show
me the way.

God, I want your attitude. " Very short prayers, but as you pray throughout the
day and make a conversation throughout the day, God will strengthen you. You can
make God's word a part of your life every day.

Read the Bible, at least a few verses of it every day. It has the power to set
your heart and mind. You can spend time with other people who want to think like
you do, who want to feel like you do about this world, and they will help you to
set your heart and mind.

Those are some simple ways to begin down this incredible road of life. This is
living the life that God has given us to live. We accept his new life, but then
we get to live his new life.

And is it a struggle sometimes to set your heart and mind? Absolutely. It's a
struggle almost every day.

Is it worth the struggle? Absolutely, because you're able to live out the new
life that Christ has given you. I'm going to see the things around me.

I'm going to see myself either in light of earthly things, selfishness,
pettiness, temptation, possessiveness, or I'm going to see them in light of
heavenly things, God's love, God's plan, God's power. I want to set my heart and
mind. In fact, let's do that right now for this day, this moment of this day.

As you pray with me, I just encourage you to say, Jesus Christ, set my mind, set
my heart on things above. Thank you for the new life you have given me. And
because I have new life, and because I want to live out that new life, I pray
that my mind and my heart would be set not on my things, not on the world's
things, but on your truth, on your love, on your power.

Thank you for new life. And I pray that when I get frustrated, it feels like I'm
just thinking about me and not about you, that Lord, you remind me that you love
me and that you give in every moment a new opportunity to set my heart and set
my mind once again on you and on how much you love me. Help me not to even just
set my heart and mind on what I'm not doing right, how I'm not setting my heart
and mind, but instead help me to have the positive spirit of knowing Jesus
Christ, that your spirit's working in me, to do this miracle of helping me to
think and to feel in a new way, to change my passions and to change my
priorities.

Jesus, I pray this in your name, amen. Well, join us tomorrow. We're going to
continue looking at living your new life as we look at verses three to 11.