Colossians 3:1-4, 16-17
“…Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. … Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through Him. “ (NIV)
What are you setting your mind on? I don’t know if you have observed this in your life as I have in mine; but I find it incredibly difficult to set my mind on things above. I have so many other important things that need concentrated on right now –like keeping up with my dishes and housework in spite of physical difficulties, raising obedient and beautiful-inside children, and keeping my marriage alive inspite of Dan’s harried work schedule. Sometimes, just breathing has become a struggle. With all of this stress, how in the world am I supposed to set my mind on things above? I believe in my heart that one of the best ways to set your mind on Godly things is to fill your mind with scripture. This is brought out in vs. 16 of the scripture quoted; which says to “let the Word of God dwell in you richly.” The word “richly” jumps out of me. As Americans, we associate this word with money—lots of money. I think we can translate it here as lots of God’s Word dwelling in our hearts. This can only happen one way that I know of – we have to study the Scripture.
There are several ways to accomplish this. Those that come to most of our minds immediately are 1) daily personal Bible study, and 2) attending Sunday morning services. These are great ways to set our minds on things above, but they are not the only ways to injest rich amounts of Scripture into our souls. Other methods might include listening to an audio recording of the Bible on our way to and from church, attending midweek Bible studies at church or in a small group where accountability is encouraged, sharing time with our spouse studying God’s word, listening to valid Christian radio programs, or my personal favorite – teaching our children. It is amazing to what length you will go to understand a portion of God’s Word correctly when you realize you need to teach your child that specific portion. For children, nothing beats AWANA for getting the Scriptures into the minds of your kids. You work one-on-one with your children throughout the week to memorize the Scriptures for their book, and once weekly they meet with other “clubbers” at AWANA. A great summertime option is the rapidly approaching Bible Bee program, which all of my family will be participating in for the first time this summer.
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