What It Means to Be Heavenly Minded

If you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

–Colossians 3:1

How do you maintain your focus as a citizen of heaven while you’re still a resident of earth? It all comes down to understanding what it means to be heavenly minded. In Colossians 3:1–2, Paul wrote, “Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”

You may have heard the popular criticism that some Christians are so heavenly minded that they’re of no earthly good. But that’s a false dichotomy. The only way we will be any earthly good is by being heavenly minded–as long as we understand what that means.

Most of us think of our lives in two parts: life on earth right now and life in heaven after we die. We imagine a line of demarcation between the here and now and the hereafter. But when Jesus spoke about eternal life, He was not talking about a period of life that begins the moment you die. He was talking about a quality of life, not a quantity of life. Eternal life begins the moment we’re saved and extends beyond the grave into eternity.

So what does it mean to “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,” as Paul said in Colossians 3:1? It doesn’t mean focusing on things in heaven, such as the angels, pearly gates, and streets of gold. No, to be heavenly minded means to set your mind on Jesus Christ and to become like Him so that you can experience the same joy He experienced here on earth. Even when people were seeking to destroy Him and the world was collapsing around Him, Jesus experienced inexplicable joy. He had fulfillment in His earthly life and assurance about His future because He was in a right relationship with His heavenly Father.

Paul was saying you don’t have to wait until you die to enjoy the benefits of heaven; you can experience the same quality of life that Jesus experienced by becoming like Him. To be heavenly minded simply means to conform your affections, attitudes, and actions to those of Jesus Christ. When you’re a heavenly minded Christian, you love what Jesus loves, think like Jesus thinks, and act like Jesus acts in every situation. Being heavenly minded is not about your location in life; it’s about the foundation of your life, and that is Jesus Christ.

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Today’s devotion is adapted from “Heaven Can’t Wait” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2012.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.