What should I think about?

Don Stephens
08/15/24 - Booklet

Set Your Mind on Things Above 

In former years I liked to follow the business news. Sometimes I watched it a lot depending on what was happening in the markets. I can’t say I was shocked, but I was surprised, and taken aback when I tuned to CNBC on Wednesday May 25, 2011 and heard them announce that Mark Haynes was dead. Mark Haynes was anchor of the Squawk on the Street program and I had listened to his broadcasts for many years. His death was the last thing I expected to hear about. He died suddenly, unexpectedly at the age of 65. Afterward I reflected upon the uncertainty of life, and how that many of us spend our days concerned about our savings and investments when in truth we should be thinking about higher things.

Paul, in his letter to the Colossians said,

Colossians 3:1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.  3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

I would wager that Mark Haynes spent the day before his death thinking on mostly the things that concern his earthly life: How am I doing in my job? Am I prepared for my retirement? Or what restaurant will I take my wife to this weekend, and what sports event should I choose to make my weekend exciting? I wonder if he thought that on Wednesday afternoon he would be dead? I doubt it.

But Mark Haynes was no different than the rest of us. We allow our thoughts to rest on personal security and advancement, or our progress toward financial security. We think about pleasure, or visions of travel. Sometimes we see ourselves rising to higher levels of authority and influence. When we do this we fall into Satan’s trap. Paul said,

“Set your mind on the things above.”

There is a story that was reported several years ago by a St. Petersburg, FL television station which said that a homeless man in Central Florida received good news and bad news. The bad news was that his mother had died. The good news was that she had left him almost $50,000 dollars. Greatly encouraged that he might now get a second chance at financial independence, he went to get his money. To his regret he discovered that his brother had filed with the court to have him declared dead. The court had granted the request. Since he was now dead in the eyes of the law he had no claim on the money his mother had left him. [1]

Death is a great separator; it separates a person from wealth and physical pleasures. As this man was separated from his inheritance by a court that declared him dead, so the Christian should in a similar way consider himself as dead to the worldly attractions that attempt to seduce the believer in Christ to abandon his chosen course in life.

The NIV translates Colossians 3:1 as “set your hearts on things above” ^[2] and they did this in respect for the meaning of the Greek word^[3] that is otherwise translated “mind.” Setting one’s heart on something explains more clearly the contrast between a proper spiritual choice and the worldly choice that seeks to supplant it. It is like the choice Esau made when he chose a bowl of stew over his birthright.[4] He did not set his mind (i.e., heart) on things above.

In Colossians 3:5 the apostle lists the places where we should avoid setting our minds. He wrote,

Colossians 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to:

immorality - to engage in sexual immorality of any kind, often with the implication of prostitution—‘to engage in illicit sex, to commit fornication, sexual immorality, prostitution.’^[5]

impurity -  the state of moral impurity, especially in relationship to sexual sin—‘impurity, immorality, filthiness.[6]

passion -  to experience strong physical desires, particularly of a sexual nature—‘passion, lust, lustful desire, to have lust.’^[7]

evil desire - to strongly desire to have what belongs to someone else and/or to engage in an activity which is morally wrong—‘to covet, to lust, evil desires, lust, desire.’^[8]

and greed, which amounts to idolatry - a strong desire to acquire more and more material possessions or to possess more things than other people have, all irrespective of need—‘greed, avarice, covetousness.’^[9].

Col. 3:8 But now you also, put them all aside:

anger - a relative state of anger—‘anger, fury.’ In a number of languages it is impossible to speak of ‘anger’ without indicating against whom the anger exists. For example, in 1 Tm 2:8 it might be possible to say ‘to pray without anger against anyone’ or ‘to pray without being angry at anyone.’

Also, it means to be relatively angry—‘to be full of anger, to be furious, to be angry.’^[10]

wrath - a state of intense anger, with the implication of passionate outbursts—‘anger, fury, wrath, rage.’ ^[11]

malice - a feeling of hostility and strong dislike, with a possible implication of desiring to do harm—‘hateful feeling.’^[12]

slander - to speak against someone in such a way as to harm or injure his or her reputation (occurring in relation to persons as well as to divine beings)—‘to revile, to defame, to blaspheme, reviling.’^[13]

and abusive speech from your mouth - obscene, shameful speech involving culturally disapproved themes—‘vulgar speech, obscene speech, dirty talk.’ ‘get rid of … slander and dirty talk that ever came from your lips’ Col 3:8.^[14]

Verse 3:9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices – [do not] communicate what is false, with the evident purpose of misleading—‘to lie, to tell falsehoods.’ The Greek term pseudomai (ψεύδομαι) and the English equivalent ‘to lie’ involve more than simply telling what is not true, for this could occur without an intent to deceive or mislead. ψεύδομαι, therefore, involves not only the communication of a falsehood but also the intent to deceive.^[15]

Verse 3:10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—

The above (highlighted) things, therefore, are not things that a Christian should wish to experience.

The importance of material things

Why the Apostle said that was because he knew that the worldly mindset is a trap. His vision of life was radically different from most of us. He saw himself as dead. And a dead person has no thought of what is happening on the earth. The dead person knows nothing of good restaurants, NFL football games or vacations in the Bahamas. The dead are separated from all the pleasures of this life. The Christian should be aware of the temporal, transitory nature of earth’s pleasures and should not allow them to rise to such an importance that they crowd out everything spiritual.

Once, Jesus told this parable to his disciples,

Luke 12:16 And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. 17 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ 21 “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

• Here was a rich man who allowed his possessions to rise to such importance to him that they crowded out the spiritual.
• He was rich in earthly things, but he was poor toward God.
• His mind was on preservation of his wealth—his earthly things.

Jesus had introduced the parable of the Rich Fool by saying,

Luke 12:15 Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”

People who have learned the hard way left these aphorisms,

If you have something you can't live without, you don't own it; it owns you.[16]

Materialism has nothing to do with amount; it has everything to do with attitude.[17]

In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what you want. The other is getting it.[18]

When John D. Rockefeller died, one man was curious about how much of his wealth he left. Determined to find out, he set up an appointment with one of Rockefeller's highest aides and asked, "How much did Rockefeller leave behind? "

The aide answered, "All of it."

What was true of Rockefeller is true of all of us. It is important to remember that we don’t see armored cars or U-Haul trailers going into the cemeteries so that the dead can carry away their accumulated wealth. The Egyptians tried that and their wealth remained in their tombs after they departed.

Greed

The Greek word for greed in the New Testament is pleonexia.  It means that one has a strong desire to acquire more and more material possessions or to possess more things than other people have, all irrespective of need—‘greed, avarice, covetousness all have similar meanings.’^[19]

Paul used the word in his letter to the Colossians where he wrote,

Colossians 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed[20], which amounts to idolatry.

The story of a butterfly named Maculinea arion is most instructive. The creature lays its eggs on a plant. A caterpillar emerges, and after feeding on the plant for several weeks, the young caterpillar makes its way to the ground. In order to complete its development, it must meet a certain kind of ant. When such an ant meets the caterpillar, the ant strokes it with its antennae, and the caterpillar exudes a sweet fluid from a special gland on its tenth segment. Apparently the ant likes this substance, because it then carries the caterpillar home to its nest. There the ants drink the sweet fluid exuded by the caterpillar, and the caterpillar feasts on larval ants. The caterpillar spends the winter in a special cavity of the ant's nest, and in the spring it continues eating young ants. Eventually it emerges as an adult butterfly and flies away to establish more of its kind. And the cycle starts all over again.

Some people are not much different from the ants. They relish a luxury item to the injury of themselves and their offspring.[21]

If we lack basic nutrients in our diet we suffer malnutrition. Sometimes the cure is simple: take vitamin tablets to insure you get the minimum level of nutrients you need. Once the minimum is reached, however, additional tablets have little or no benefit. Unfortunately some people apply this logic: "If a little was good, a lot will be even better." This simply is not true and in some cases is dangerous. On occasion people have even lost their lives from overdoses of some otherwise beneficial nutrients, such as vitamin A.

Sadly, this is often the case with earning money. If at one point we lacked money for basic necessities, then money—when it finally came—was a blessing. But many have applied the logic "If a little was good, a lot will be even better." Many have lost their lives this way!

A man whose pleasures betrayed him - Belshazzar’s Feast

 Daniel 5:1 Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand. 2 When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 3 Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4 They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

• Do you think at this point that Belshazzar was setting his mind on heavenly things?
• Do you think that Belshazzar knew that in just a few hours he would be dead?

 5 Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing. 6 Then the king’s face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together.

• Here is a man whom judgment has overtaken.
• We see a man still on earth who resembles the man who is suddenly brought to judgment before Almighty God.
• Here is a man caught in the midst of his sin, suddenly facing an angry God.

Desperately, Belshazzar cast about for someone to interpret this sign, for someone to give him an explanation. Surely, he was hoping his wise men would deliver him.

Daniel 5:7 The king called aloud to bring in the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the diviners. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Any man who can read this inscription and explain its interpretation to me shall be clothed with purple and have a necklace of gold around his neck, and have authority as third ruler in the kingdom.”

• Belshazzar offered the prize of nobility, of authority and riches to anyone who could answer the riddle.

Daniel 5:8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the inscription or make known its interpretation to the king. 9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, his face grew even paler, and his nobles were perplexed.

• When no answer was forthcoming he became even more afraid.

At last they called Daniel the prophet. When this righteous man arrives we see at once that Daniel’s heart and thoughts are in the right place.

Daniel 5:17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Keep your gifts for yourself or give your rewards to someone else; however, I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation known to him. 18 “O king, the Most High God granted sovereignty, grandeur, glory and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father. 19 “Because of the grandeur which He bestowed on him, all the peoples, nations and men of every language feared and trembled before him; whomever he wished he killed and whomever he wished he spared alive; and whomever he wished he elevated and whomever he wished he humbled. 20 “But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was deposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him. 21 “He was also driven away from mankind, and his heart was made like that of beasts, and his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever He wishes.

• Belshazzar was aware of this legacy, but ignored it.
• His thoughts went elsewhere.

Daniel 5:22 “Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, 23 but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways, you have not glorified.

• Belshazzar lifted himself up in pride.
• He had set his mind on the things of the earth.
• Because of his arrogance he was brought suddenly into judgment.

Daniel 5:24 “Then the hand was sent from Him and this inscription was written out. 25 “Now this is the inscription that was written out: ‘MENĒ, MENĒ, TEKĒL, UPHARSIN.’ 26 “This is the interpretation of the message: ‘MENĒ’—God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. 27 “ ‘TEKĒL’—you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. 28 “ ‘PERĒS’—your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

• The judgment against Belshazzar is the judgment that many will hear.
• “You have been weighed in the scales and found deficient.”

 Daniel 5:29 Then Belshazzar gave orders, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck, and issued a proclamation concerning him that he now had authority as the third ruler in the kingdom. 30 That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. 31 So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two.

• Death came suddenly to a king who had exalted himself, and had sinned against the God of Heaven.
• The Medes and the Persians entered Babylon through an unexpected way. They diverted the path of a river that went under the wall of the city and so brought their armies in unexpectedly.
•  The Babylonians had thought their city was impregnable. It wasn’t.
• Belshazzar is an example of a man on whom judgment and death come suddenly, and unexpectedly.
• It is the same for many men.

Where the apostle said to set our mind, i.e., to wish to experience,

Colossians 3:12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of -

Compassion - to show mercy and concern, with the implication of sensitivity and compassion—‘to have mercy, to show compassion, mercy, tender compassion.’^[22]

Kindness - to provide something beneficial for someone as an act of kindness—‘to act kindly, to be kind, kindness.’^[23]

Humility -  the quality of humility—‘humble attitude, humility, without arrogance.’^[24]

Gentleness - gentleness of attitude and behavior, in contrast with harshness in one’s dealings with others—‘gentleness, meekness, mildness.’^[25]

Patience - a state of emotional calm in the face of provocation or misfortune and without complaint or irritation—‘patience.’ ^[26]

13 bearing with one another: to be patient with, in the sense of enduring possible difficulty—‘to be patient with, to have patience, patience.’^[27]

and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Love : to have love for someone or something, based on sincere appreciation and high regard—‘to love, to regard with affection, loving concern,^[28]

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Misplaced priorities

Samantha Smith, of Manchester, Maine, met with Soviet premier Michael Gorbachev and talked with him about the arms race that could lead to the nuclear destruction of both the Soviet Union and the United States. She was eleven years old at the time. After the meeting with the premier she became a spokesperson for the anti-nuclear movement, and launched a modeling/acting career as a result of the publicity.

She was killed in the crash of a commuter airplane in August 1985 while traveling with her father. She was thirteen at the time of the crash. She should have been more concerned about the risks of travel than of nuclear war. She had misplaced her priorities.

Many people misplace their priorities regarding material wealth and moral behavior.

In 2009 Fox News reported a story from Mogadishu, Somalia in which eight pirates hi-jacked an oil-laden Saudi oil tanker, the Sirius Star, and held it for a ransom of $3 million. They held it for two months. After the owners paid the ransom the pirates attempted to escape with the loot, but a storm caused their small boat to capsize. Five of the eight drowned. Jamal Abdulle, a resident of the Somali coastal town of Haradhere, close to where the ship was anchored also confirmed that the pirate’s boat sank and that the ransom money that had been shared between dozens of pirates was lost.[29]

The wise man wrote,

Proverbs 23:4 Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,

         Cease from your consideration of it.

               5 When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.

         For wealth certainly makes itself wings

         Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

Material wealth seldom imparts happiness to its possessor. Often, it is quite the opposite.

Where is happiness found? John D. Rockefeller, a millionaire, said, “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness. I would barter them all for the days I sat on an office stool in Cleveland and counted myself rich on three dollars a week.” ^[30]

A common thread among the lost is this: They set their minds on earthly things, and take no thought of heavenly things.

There is the story of two British soldiers who had mounted guard in one of the rock galleries of Gibraltar. One was on guard at each end of a tunnel. One was a Christian; the other was seeking Christ.

It was midnight; and as the soldiers were going about their rounds—one meditating on the blood of Christ which had brought him peace, the other brooding over his doubts and fears—suddenly an officer challenged the Christian soldier and demanded the password.

“The precious blood of Christ,” called out the startled soldier, forgetting the password in the thoughts of his heart.

Immediately, however, he corrected himself and gave the correct password and the officer amazed, passed on.

But these words were not in vain, for they had run through the rock galleries, echoed by the solid walls, and had struck upon the ear of the doubting, yet seeking, soldier as if they were a message from heaven. It seemed as if an angel had spoken these words direct from the throne—”The precious blood of Christ.” ^[31]

So it was that one soldier had his mind on heavenly things while the other had his mind on earthly doubts and fears.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians,

Philippians 3:18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

And,

Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

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