Two adult brothers watching the great Canadian past-time of hockey in their living room in a very remote area of northern Ontario. It was your typical Saturday night, and the game was contentious, unfortunately, so were the brothers. It was not your typical hockey shootout.
You see, one brother cheered for one team while the second brother cheered for the other. As the game went on, one of the teams was getting the upper hand and it looked quite obvious that they were going to win the match. This was good news for one of the men, bad news for the other.
As the game drew towards its completion near the end of the third period, the brothers were in a tizzy. They both were opinionated men and in both of their opinions, their perspective team was better than the other. They were passionate fans in the truest sense.
Not your typical hockey shootout, but 2 games for the price of 1
The living room in that old remote house began to resemble a hockey match of its own. The brothers were now standing and shouting at each other, and the game of TV was relegated to simple white noise. Suddenly, one of the men grabbed his rifle and shot the other in the chest. The man died almost instantly. You were warned, it was not your typical hockey shootout!
The shooter then sat back down on the couch and finished watching the last two minutes of the game. Immediately at its end, while the credits were rolling on TV, the man phoned police and confessed to his murdering his brother over a simple hockey game.
Opinions are personal and can bring out the passion in us. They don’t have to be logical or grounded in any truth, they are simply opinions that we have formed in our minds for which we are very willing to defend.
This is exactly what God is referring to in Colossians 3:2 when He says “If ye then be risen with Christ” (v. 1) … “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” (v. 2)
Defining the terms
The phrase “set your affections” comes from just one Greek word. It means to think and create one’s personal opinion on things.
We all have opinions on things and like the two brothers, they can be very emotional. They form the basis of our convictions. That is why this command uses the word “affections”. It refers to those opinions that we hold dearly.
To prevent us from ending up like the hockey brothers with their anything but typical hockey shootout, we must choose to take the advice of Colossians 3:2. We must begin to set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth. In other words, we must replace our opinions of earthly concerns with heavenly ones.
I greatly appreciate the second half of v. 2:
“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2)
Some Christians may be tempted to say, “I’ll set my affections, my opinions on both things in Heaven and on the earth.” But v. 2 is crystal clear, do not get emotionally attached to earthly issues. Why? Because of verse 3:
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3)
Dictating the citizenship
To “be risen” with Christ means to be dead (cut off) from this world. Before our salvation, things were reversed. We were dead to God and alive to this world.
Once a person accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour, God the Father positions them in His mind as now being in Christ. And today, Christ is literally in Heaven. Our citizenship, therefore, is now transferred from Earth to Heaven.
God now wants us to think heavenly and to form our opinions based upon the edicts of Heaven. It’s ok to be opinionated as long as your opinions are established out of God’s heavenly Word!
As the Apostle John wrote, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17)
If you search the Scriptures and let God’s Word permeate in your opinions, I guarantee the things of this world will quickly lose their shine. Nothing compares to God’s grand Heaven.
Divine results
To help us focus on Heaven rather than earth, God presents us with a great promise:
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4)
This is referring to a future event that is guaranteed to happen “When Christ … shall appear”. It hasn’t happened yet, but God promises it will.
It will be amazing to watch Jesus Christ make His glorious appearance to this needy world, but He won’t be alone. Verse 4 says, “then shall ye also appear with him”.
This is not referring to the Rapture of the church as Christ does not make an appearance in that event. In the Rapture, Christ is as a thief in the night. In the Rapture, in the twinkling of an eye (speed of light), Christ calls His church back home to Heaven.
Verse 4 is referring to the Second Coming or Second Appearing of Christ to the surface of this earth. When Christ returns, He promises to return with His church. As the citizens of the world look upon Christ, so shall they also look upon us. Because Christ lives, we live in Him, and because Christ reigns, we reign with Him.
Therefore, don’t let this present world snare you with earthly opinions. Focus on God’s Word and our future reign with Christ. One day we will reign with Him in glory
By the way, “glory” is not a place, it’s a people. It’s a people who have been glorified.
by the translation of their mortal bodies into eternal perfect ones. Now that is something to think about!
So what?
Just think about how much time and money we waste fussing about how we look or the vehicles we drive. We get all hung up about making an appearance to the lost people of this world. God wants us to focus on the future appearance we will be making for 1,000 years as we reign with Him on this earth!
Just think about how many times we could have been witnessing with the gospel, but we were too busy doing what we considered in our opinions to be good deeds in order to try to externally entice people to the Lord.
Instead of preaching against the Illuminati and one-world governments, we are to be warning people that it is their personal sin that will eternally destroy them. I have never seen a person go to Hell because of wicked government laws, but I have seen people die into a lost eternity simply because they would not submit to Christ.
The world needs a witness. Be that witness! Don’t let the affections of this world, as noble as they may seem, keep you from God’s Word and God’s Witness. And the next time you find yourself in a heated argument over your favourite team remember, it’s only a game!
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Until the next post, keep searching the DIVINE SCHEME!
Regards,
Mike MacDonald
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About Mike MacDonald:
As an ordained theologian, Mike has served in many gospel ventures.
He has been a church pastor, chaplain, seminary vice-president,
Christian school principal, and creation evangelist. These roles have
built up an expertise in Mike’s ability to help people discover the true
essence of the Bible and how to make it apply in everyday life.