Lessons from Colossians: Sights on Heaven
Setting Your Sights on Heaven: How to Stop Living Horizontally and Start Living Vertically
It is easy to get so caught up in the problems around us that we forget where our focus is supposed to be. Colossians 3:1-11 offers a powerful and practical challenge for every believer: if you have been raised with Christ, your life should reflect that reality. That means setting your sights on the things above, removing what is holding you back, and putting on the new self that God has given you.
What Does It Mean to "Seek the Things Above"?
Paul opens this passage with a direct challenge. He writes, "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." - Colossians 3:1-2 (ESV)
This is not just a suggestion. It is a call to reorient your entire perspective around the kingdom of God rather than the circumstances of this world.
Why Do We Keep Looking in the Wrong Direction?
Think about learning to drive. When a new driver looks to the left to avoid drifting, they actually drift left. When they look right, they drift right. Wherever your focus goes, your life follows. The same principle applies spiritually.
When we fix our eyes on our problems, our finances, our relationships, or our failures, we naturally move in that direction. We spend our energy managing one crisis after another, constantly exhausted, never experiencing the breakthrough we are looking for.
The Difference Between Horizontal Living and Vertical Living
Most people spend their lives pursuing what could be called horizontal change. They try to fix what they can see, control what they can manage, and solve what is right in front of them. But as believers, we were never meant to live that way.
Vertical living means your focus is set on Christ, who is seated at the right hand of the Father. When your mind is fixed on the realities of heaven rather than the realities of earth, you are no longer chasing temporary solutions. You are connected to the one who brings lasting transformation.
What You Seek Most Shapes the Direction of Your Life
What you seek the most becomes what you think about the most. And what fills your mind the most has the greatest power to shape the direction of your life. As Proverbs reminds us, as a man thinks, so is he.
Paul is calling believers to exchange an earthly perspective for a kingdom perspective. If you have been raised to new life with Christ, your focus should rise with Him to the realities of heaven.
Jesus put it plainly: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6:21
If you find yourself constantly being shaken, it may be worth asking whether your treasure is in the kingdom of this life rather than the kingdom of God.
Why Does the Bible Tell Us to "Put Sin to Death"?
Paul does not stop at telling us where to look. He also tells us what to remove. In Colossians 3:5-9, he lists specific sins and says plainly: put them to death.
"Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."
Notice the language Paul uses. He does not say hide these things. He does not say dress them up or manage them from a distance. He says put them to death. That is intentionally violent language, and it is meant to be.
What Happens When We Treat Sin as Something Small?
We live in a culture that has largely stopped using the word sin. We call it a bad habit, a quirk, or just part of who we are. But when we minimize sin, we give it room to grow and eventually control us.
Consider the story of a man who bought a new home and kept finding small piles of sawdust on his floor each morning. He swept it up and went about his day, not wanting to deal with what it might mean. A contractor friend told him he had termites and needed to act immediately. The man got offended and hung up. He kept cleaning up the sawdust day after day until a storm came through and his house collapsed completely. The termites had been eating away at the structure the entire time.
That is exactly what unaddressed sin does. It eats quietly, consistently, and destructively until the damage is far greater than it ever needed to be.
The author of Hebrews echoes Paul's urgency: "Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith." - Hebrews 12:1-2
What Does It Mean to "Put On the New Self"?
After calling us to remove the old self, Paul calls us to put on something new. He writes, "Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." - Colossians 3:10
There is a parable that illustrates this well. A king threw a great celebration and invited everyone, including the poor, the lame, and those from the margins of society. He even provided new garments for every guest so they could participate fully in the celebration. But one man showed up still wearing his old clothes. When the king asked why, the man said he simply preferred his old garments. The king had him removed.
It is a sobering picture. God provides us with everything we need to walk in our new identity. But sometimes we want Jesus to accept us on our own terms, in our old garments, in our old way of living. Paul says that is not how it works. You have to put off the old and put on the new.
Is Becoming More Like Jesus a Process?
Yes. The theological word for this is sanctification, and it is a lifelong journey. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:16, "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day."
This is not about condemnation. It is about direction. The question worth asking is not whether you are perfect, but whether you are moving. Are you looking more like Jesus today than you did a year ago? Sanctification is a daily choice to put off the old self and put on the new, and it happens most naturally when our focus remains fixed on the realities of heaven.
How to Stay on Course When Life Gets Stormy
There is a story of a young first mate sailing under a seasoned captain when a violent storm hit without warning. Everyone on deck was terrified. But the old captain stood with complete calm, his eyes fixed on the horizon. His confidence steadied the crew.
Afterward, the first mate asked how the captain remained so composed. The captain gave two answers. First, he said he never carried unnecessary weight on his ship that he would have to remove in the middle of a storm. Second, he said he always kept his eyes fixed on the lighthouse ahead. No matter how powerful the storm became or how chaotic the waves got, as long as he had a fixed point of reference that never moved, he could stay on course.
The application is clear. We cannot wait until a storm hits to deal with the sin and weight we have been carrying. And when the storm does come, we cannot afford to take our eyes off Jesus. The kingdom of God does not shift with culture. It does not move based on what people think in the moment. It is stable, steadfast, and unshakeable.
Life Application
This week, take an honest inventory of what has your focus. Identify one area of sin or unnecessary weight in your life that you have been managing rather than removing. Make a deliberate decision to put it to death, not to hide it, not to minimize it, but to deal with it directly. Then, each morning this week, begin your day by intentionally setting your mind on the things above before you look at your phone, your problems, or your to-do list. Let your first gaze of the day be a vertical one.
Ask yourself these questions as you reflect:
Wherever your focus goes, your life follows. Set your sights on the kingdom that cannot be shaken, remove what is weighing you down, and trust the process of becoming who God has already declared you to be in Christ.
It is easy to get so caught up in the problems around us that we forget where our focus is supposed to be. Colossians 3:1-11 offers a powerful and practical challenge for every believer: if you have been raised with Christ, your life should reflect that reality. That means setting your sights on the things above, removing what is holding you back, and putting on the new self that God has given you.
What Does It Mean to "Seek the Things Above"?
Paul opens this passage with a direct challenge. He writes, "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." - Colossians 3:1-2 (ESV)
This is not just a suggestion. It is a call to reorient your entire perspective around the kingdom of God rather than the circumstances of this world.
Why Do We Keep Looking in the Wrong Direction?
Think about learning to drive. When a new driver looks to the left to avoid drifting, they actually drift left. When they look right, they drift right. Wherever your focus goes, your life follows. The same principle applies spiritually.
When we fix our eyes on our problems, our finances, our relationships, or our failures, we naturally move in that direction. We spend our energy managing one crisis after another, constantly exhausted, never experiencing the breakthrough we are looking for.
The Difference Between Horizontal Living and Vertical Living
Most people spend their lives pursuing what could be called horizontal change. They try to fix what they can see, control what they can manage, and solve what is right in front of them. But as believers, we were never meant to live that way.
Vertical living means your focus is set on Christ, who is seated at the right hand of the Father. When your mind is fixed on the realities of heaven rather than the realities of earth, you are no longer chasing temporary solutions. You are connected to the one who brings lasting transformation.
What You Seek Most Shapes the Direction of Your Life
What you seek the most becomes what you think about the most. And what fills your mind the most has the greatest power to shape the direction of your life. As Proverbs reminds us, as a man thinks, so is he.
Paul is calling believers to exchange an earthly perspective for a kingdom perspective. If you have been raised to new life with Christ, your focus should rise with Him to the realities of heaven.
Jesus put it plainly: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6:21
If you find yourself constantly being shaken, it may be worth asking whether your treasure is in the kingdom of this life rather than the kingdom of God.
Why Does the Bible Tell Us to "Put Sin to Death"?
Paul does not stop at telling us where to look. He also tells us what to remove. In Colossians 3:5-9, he lists specific sins and says plainly: put them to death.
"Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."
Notice the language Paul uses. He does not say hide these things. He does not say dress them up or manage them from a distance. He says put them to death. That is intentionally violent language, and it is meant to be.
What Happens When We Treat Sin as Something Small?
We live in a culture that has largely stopped using the word sin. We call it a bad habit, a quirk, or just part of who we are. But when we minimize sin, we give it room to grow and eventually control us.
Consider the story of a man who bought a new home and kept finding small piles of sawdust on his floor each morning. He swept it up and went about his day, not wanting to deal with what it might mean. A contractor friend told him he had termites and needed to act immediately. The man got offended and hung up. He kept cleaning up the sawdust day after day until a storm came through and his house collapsed completely. The termites had been eating away at the structure the entire time.
That is exactly what unaddressed sin does. It eats quietly, consistently, and destructively until the damage is far greater than it ever needed to be.
The author of Hebrews echoes Paul's urgency: "Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith." - Hebrews 12:1-2
What Does It Mean to "Put On the New Self"?
After calling us to remove the old self, Paul calls us to put on something new. He writes, "Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." - Colossians 3:10
There is a parable that illustrates this well. A king threw a great celebration and invited everyone, including the poor, the lame, and those from the margins of society. He even provided new garments for every guest so they could participate fully in the celebration. But one man showed up still wearing his old clothes. When the king asked why, the man said he simply preferred his old garments. The king had him removed.
It is a sobering picture. God provides us with everything we need to walk in our new identity. But sometimes we want Jesus to accept us on our own terms, in our old garments, in our old way of living. Paul says that is not how it works. You have to put off the old and put on the new.
Is Becoming More Like Jesus a Process?
Yes. The theological word for this is sanctification, and it is a lifelong journey. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:16, "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day."
This is not about condemnation. It is about direction. The question worth asking is not whether you are perfect, but whether you are moving. Are you looking more like Jesus today than you did a year ago? Sanctification is a daily choice to put off the old self and put on the new, and it happens most naturally when our focus remains fixed on the realities of heaven.
How to Stay on Course When Life Gets Stormy
There is a story of a young first mate sailing under a seasoned captain when a violent storm hit without warning. Everyone on deck was terrified. But the old captain stood with complete calm, his eyes fixed on the horizon. His confidence steadied the crew.
Afterward, the first mate asked how the captain remained so composed. The captain gave two answers. First, he said he never carried unnecessary weight on his ship that he would have to remove in the middle of a storm. Second, he said he always kept his eyes fixed on the lighthouse ahead. No matter how powerful the storm became or how chaotic the waves got, as long as he had a fixed point of reference that never moved, he could stay on course.
The application is clear. We cannot wait until a storm hits to deal with the sin and weight we have been carrying. And when the storm does come, we cannot afford to take our eyes off Jesus. The kingdom of God does not shift with culture. It does not move based on what people think in the moment. It is stable, steadfast, and unshakeable.
Life Application
This week, take an honest inventory of what has your focus. Identify one area of sin or unnecessary weight in your life that you have been managing rather than removing. Make a deliberate decision to put it to death, not to hide it, not to minimize it, but to deal with it directly. Then, each morning this week, begin your day by intentionally setting your mind on the things above before you look at your phone, your problems, or your to-do list. Let your first gaze of the day be a vertical one.
Ask yourself these questions as you reflect:
- Is my focus currently set on the realities of heaven or the realities of this world?
- Is there a sin in my life that I have been treating as a small thing rather than dealing with it directly?
- Am I pursuing behavior modification on my own, or am I allowing Christ to bring true heart transformation?
- When storms come into my life, where does my gaze go first?
- Am I moving toward looking more like Jesus, or have I become comfortable in my old garments?
Wherever your focus goes, your life follows. Set your sights on the kingdom that cannot be shaken, remove what is weighing you down, and trust the process of becoming who God has already declared you to be in Christ.
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