Col.3:1 – Barclay – If then you were raised with Christ, set your hearts on the things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Paul taught us to set our affections, our heart, on Christ. This is obviously what happened to the twelve disciples who spent three years with Him, they became strongly attached to Christ, their hearts were bound to His. Paul is describing the importance of this in our lives today, we are to set our hearts on Christ even though we don’t see Him. Here is how Matthew Henry described setting your affections on Christ.
“Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. The heart soars upward on the wings of affection. Things on earth are here set in opposition to things above. Heaven and earth are set in contrast with one another, and the predominance of our affection for one will proportionately weaken our affection for the other.
He gives three reasons for this.
- We are dead toward present things. If we are dead to the earth and have renounced it as our goal and source of happiness, it is absurd for us to set our affections on it and seek it.
- Our true life lies in the other world: You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. The new self has its livelihood from there. It is hid with Christ, not only hidden from us, in secrecy, but also hidden for us, kept secure.
- At the second coming of Christ we hope for the perfection of our happiness. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we shall also appear with him in glory. Christ is a believer’s life.”
Now all of this is well and good but how do I do this? How do I get my heart to love Jesus with this kind of passion? For me it starts in the secret place, in the very presence of the Lord. This is the place where our hearts are turned toward Him and begin to be tuned to Him. I found it helpful to spend extended periods of time praying in tongues in a very specific way. I am not talking about praying aimlessly or even aggressively; what I am describing is intentionally setting my mind and heart on Jesus as I begin to worship and magnify Him in my heavenly language. For me, I envision Christ in His heavenly ministry at the right hand of God. He is emanating the glory of God as He is seated on the throne in His crucified yet glorified body. These are the moments my life shifts, when I actually set my heart on Him intentionally and praise Him with the language of intimacy. This is the primary purpose of the heavenly language.
