Last month, I used the analogy of travel to show the importance of travelling light by dropping any baggage that slows us down in our walk of faith. You can check that post here. After you have packed your bags and ensured that you are travelling light, the next step is to get into the plane and prepare to take off. If you’ve ever taken a flight before, then you know that the view from above is different. You see clouds up close. The ground below starts out clear but then becomes blurry until you can’t see it anymore. The altitude changes. You receive specific instructions to ensure you stay safe, don’t disturb others and that your flight experience will be enjoyable.

Our walk with God is similar to flying. Colossians 3:1-4 puts it like this:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

When you are on a plane, suspended in the air, there is not much you can do to change the things on the ground below. Unless you are the pilot, you literally don’t have any control of when, how or whether you will get to your destination.

When Paul is writing his letter to the Colossians, he reminds them that their lives are now different. Now that they have put their faith in Jesus Christ, their perspective needs to change. They can’t continue to live their lives as usual. Jesus paid such a heavy price for them to stay the way they were before. This is not just an archaic letter to the Colossians, it is applicable to anyone who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

So how then do we set our minds on things above? I’m glad you asked. Here are three examples:

1. Living with an eternal perspective

Life can feel pretty mundane, right? You wake up everyday, do the same routine tasks, tick off your checklist, go to bed, repeat. Day after day. Month after month. Year after year. 

As Christians, we know that the life we have currently on earth is not our eternal reality. One day, when Jesus returns, we will get to spend eternity with Him forever. Therefore, as we live on earth, we need to always audit our lives and ask the Holy Spirit, “Am I living a life worthy of eternity?”

I have been meditating a lot recently on these two scriptures:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Matthew 7:21 – 23 KJV

and

His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Matthew 25:23 KJV

One represents the words that no Christian wants to hear, the other represents the words that every Christian wants to hear. What determines the words you will hear is how you lived your life on earth? Whether or not you set your mind on things above.

Colossians 3 gives a very good metric that we can use to assess ourselves:

Setting our minds on earthly things looks like:

• Sexual immorality
• Impurity
• Lust
• Evil desires
• Greed, which is idolatry
• Anger
• Rage
• Malice
• Slander
• Filthy language
• Lieing

Setting our minds on heavenly things looks like:

• Compassion
• Kindness
• Humility
• Gentleness
• Patience
• Forgiveness
• Love
• Peace
• Worship
• Gratitude
• Doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Sit down with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to show you what category you fall into.

2. Living in faith rather than fear.

Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus endured the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. Being nailed to the cross wasn’t joyful at all. It was the complete opposite. However, Jesus kept in mind that He would die and resurrect, earning salvation for everyone who believes in Him. That is the joy that kept Him there. We live in a world where pestilence and calamity are rising, wars are erupting, evil is advancing and news keep spreading that AI will take over most jobs. It can be easy to live paralysed by fear. Not wanting to move forward because of the what ifs of life. 

However, when we set our minds above, we choose to have faith in God – that He will complete the good work He started in us (Philippians 1:6). Like Jesus, we can endure the hardships of earth by having faith that one day we will experience the joy of being with Him.

3. Living from a place of victory.

I recently heard a sermon by Priscilla Shirer, you can check it out here. She gave context to Revelation 4 that blew me away:

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 

Revelation 4:2 NIV

Revelation 4 describes John’s vision of the throne of heaven. One of the things that He saw was that there was a throne and there was someone sitting on it. You see, in those ancient times, kings didn’t sit while the battle was going on. They would pace around so they could have oversight and give strategy to their soldiers. The only time kings sat down was when the battle had been won. John says that he saw a throne in heaven and there was One sitting on it. The King of Kings. The One who has never lost a battle. The One who has all victory over the enemy!

How different would life be if we lived knowing our victory was assured. The 2026 World Cup recently ended and Spain won. Imagine if Spain had an idea all along that they would win? How different would they play? I wonder if they would have been more confident? If they would have followed what their coach said knowing that his play book would guarantee them win after win.

In the same way, God (our coach) has given us a fool proof playbook (the Bible) that if we followed it to a T, we are guaranteed success. The battle has been won. We have the victory against the enemy. It’s high time we lived like we believed it. It’s high time we set our minds on the victory that is ours in Christ Jesus.

Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you for this reminder to set our minds on things above. The realities, challenges and luxuries of earth can blind us from the realities of heaven. Holy Spirit, help us to live with a view of eternity, to have faith for impossibilities and to live from a place of victory. In Jesus Name, Amen.