Should Christians be “heavenly minded?” Yes, according to the Word of God. How else can one endeavor to live a life that’s pleasing to God. It’s not possible to please God and please the world at the same time.
The apostle Paul writing to the Colossians says this, “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. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).
It is therefore of the utmost importance that Christians develop and maintain a “heavenly mindset” in order to ensure obedience to God and His Word. Obviously, it was not God’s intent to save sinners and take them out of the world immediately. After salvation, the believer must continue to live in the world with his allegiance to God.
Let’s consider what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit and the old nature, which is applicable to Colossians 3:1-3).
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:5,7,8).
Paul emphatically lays out the striking contrast between the flesh and the Spirit. He uses the word hostile, which means having active opposition to God and does not submit to God’s law. So then, the Scripture is very clear and we must let the Word dwell in us richly.
When a person comes to know Jesus Christ as Savior, that person comes to know Christ as Savior and Lord at the same time. The Holy Spirit begins to live in that individual whose body then becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit. “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God. You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19,20).
The believer in Christ is saved and set apart for God’s will and purposes. However, God did not remove the old nature. The indwelling Holy Spirit initiates and sustains those who are saved, delivering them from the onslaughts of the old nature and produces God’s righteousness in them.
Heavenly minded Christians have a heartfelt desire to worship, trust, and serve God Almighty in sincerity, faithfulness and truth. In doing so, God will be honored and glorified. And God has promised: “for those who honor me I will honor” (1 Samuel 2:30).
Because we live in a very godless, indifferent, corrupt, depraved, and unrighteous world, Christians must pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness by keep on trusting, keeping on believing, keeping on hoping; never becoming weary of doing good for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.
If there was ever a time when Christians are being challenged because of their faith, it is right now. Many believe that the times we are living in are the “last days” or the “end time.” According to the Bible, Paul told Timothy that there will be difficulties in the last days because of human attitudes.
Paul says, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
These things are very much in evidence today, and have even got progressively worse over time. Because all Scripture is breathed out by God (2 Tim. 3:16), it’s just as if Paul was writing in this present day and age.
The Scripture says those that are guilty of these attitudes are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” Godliness means holiness and making God the focus of one’s life; total devotion to God.
People in this category profess to know God, or know about God, but their lives are completely void of God and His grace. The Bible says, “Godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8).
The more we consider the uncertainty of the future and especially when the Lord said: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
It is therefore absolutely essential and urgent for Christians to become, and remain, more heavenly minded; taking into account the signs of the times we are living in, and the imminent return of the Lord Jesus.