Kingdom Mindset || Colossians 3:1 || Weekend Wind-Down #30

Welcome to Week 30 of our “Weekend Wind-Down” series. This series is where we take a piece of Scripture, get its background information, and dig deeper into it to see what the Bible says about it and what we need to walk away with.

Our scripture focus today is Colossians 3:1, which says: 

1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 

Paul wrote this letter to combat the Colossian church’s errors and show that believers have everything they need in Christ. Paul teaches that Christ paid for our sins, reconciled us to God, and gave us the pattern and the power to grow spiritually. We must remember that as we learn what God is like, we see the standard of what we should become. We have some background context for this verse, but what do we need to walk away with? 

I will focus on setting our sights on the Kingdom of Heaven by putting God’s priority into our daily practice. We must talk to God daily to see how our day should go and ask for everything needed to get through the day. When we do, we’ll let the Holy Spirit fill our thoughts on focusing with an eternal mindset.

Jesus says it best in Matthew 6:33 as part of his Sermon on the Mount.

33 Seek the Kingdom of God above everything else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 

What does this mean? We should put God first in our lives. It means everything from our thoughts and actions to the deeper parts of our lives, like our desires and motivations. When we leave bed to begin our day, we talk with God and align our thoughts with him. Checking in with God throughout our days will ensure we live righteously, or in the right frame of mind, according to God. We must reflect God’s character (see Exodus 34:6) to others we interact with. We do all these things to create a fantastic relationship with God and receive the blessings He wants to give us. If we spend our day worrying about things, we use our energy for nothing. Which one sounds better to you? 

I’ve spent a lot of days worrying about a lot of things that I didn’t really need to worry about. I’ve exhausted myself countless times because of this. I’ve also had to spend much time recovering physically, mentally, and spiritually because of my anxiety. I don’t fully understand its effects on my body until it’s past the point of just “dealing with it.” I’ve dealt with stress headaches, body tension, nervousness/jitteriness, fatigue, anger/frustration, depression, purposelessness, a sense of worthlessness, loss of control of life, and more. 

It sounds better to maintain my relationship with God. He cares for me more than anything else. He cares for me, so I should cast my anxieties onto him. He forgives me for all the wrongs I commit. He loves me unconditionally, to the point where I can do nothing about it. It’s the perfect solution that fixes all those things I listed above. That’s only half of what Matthew 6:33 talks about. We need to love others. As we navigate life, we will figure out different things to get through life healthily. There are the basic needs like food, water, clothes, and shelter. Additional needs include education, income, jobs, relationships, and others. The idea is that God will provide for these needs as long as we do what God wants us to do. If we don’t, we can still get those things. God doesn’t leave us in the lurch because he still cares for us always. Getting these things may take more work to obtain, though. Think back to when we talked about the punishment God gave Adam. God cursed the ground he worked on with thorns and thistles, but he will eat the produce. God provided for Adam through the punishment. Even though some of us aren’t Christians, God will still provide for us. 

Thank you for joining us for this Weekend Wind-Down! We talked about what it means to set our sights on doing what God wants and bringing the Kingdom of Heaven down to earth through the teachings of Paul and Matthew. Let me close out in prayer: 

Father God, thank you for the new life we gain when we become Christians. Now it’s time to reassess and ensure we put the Kingdom of God above everything. We only share Your glory, grace, and mercy with the world. It’s also in your name, we pray. Amen.