Col.3:1-3 – If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
I often think of a quote I read once by Henry Scougal, “You can judge the excellency of a man’s soul by the things he loves”. Immediately this causes my thoughts to turn toward the greatest miracle of the new birth, the redemption of our affections. We used to love stupid and sinful things before Christ came into our lives. We wasted our time pursuing the pleasures of our body having no concept of spiritual pleasure or joy. Once Christ changed us, the evidence was that He had changed the things we love. We began to love Him, His word, and His church more than anything else. Paul is touching on this in today’s passage. He said if we are risen with Christ, or born again, we should focus our affection on Christ, seated at the right hand of God. Here is how Matthew Henry describes this passage.
“To seek heavenly things is to set our affections upon them, to love them and let our desires be towards them. Upon the wings of affection the heart soars upwards, and is carried forth towards spiritual and divine objects. We must acquaint ourselves with them, esteem them above all other things, and lay out ourselves in preparation for the enjoyment of them. David gave this proof of his loving the house of God, that he diligently sought after it, and prepared for it. This is to be spiritually minded, and to seek and desire a better country, that is, a heavenly. Things on earth are here set in opposition to things above. We must not dote upon them, nor expect too much from them, that we may set our affections on heaven; for heaven and earth are contrary one to the other…”
This changes our whole view of the Christian life. We love spiritual things, we love Jesus. This is the very heart of our Christian life and why we have changed. We are not following rules or a religious system, we have met a person who loves us and has changed the very essence of our nature. We love Him because He first loved us.
