Let Heaven Fill Your Thoughts

Let Heaven Fill Your Thoughts

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. –Colossians 3:1-2

Last year I fulfilled a lifelong dream. I made a trip to Norway that included three days in the home of my best friend from third grade, who is Norwegian. We’ve kept in touch for over thirty years. One of my favorite things about visiting her is that now when I e-mail her, I can picture her in her neighborhood, in her house, even in her room at the computer from which she e-mails me. I’ve been there, so now I can see it clearly in my mind’s eye.

But how do I develop a mental picture of heaven when the prerequisite to seeing it is death? How can we “set [our] sights on the realities of heaven” (Colossians 3:1), when it’s a place we have never seen and can barely imagine? Heaven can only be grasped by faith, and it can never be completely captured by our finite minds or described in awkward earthly terms. But Scripture provides fodder for filling our thoughts with heaven. The undercurrent of all Scripture—even the passages that give directives for how to live our lives on this earth—is preparation for and longing for heaven. From Genesis 3, in which God’s perfect world is first scarred by sin and the Curse, the driving force and beckoning reality for all of history and all of Scripture is heaven, a return to the perfect world and perfect fellowship between God and those he loves.

To set your sights on heaven is to choose to anchor your thoughts and your heart’s desires beyond the ordinary things of earth. It is to choose to value what is valued in heaven, to be concerned with the concerns of heaven, and to enjoy what is delightful in heaven. No longer will earthbound concerns or values dominate your perspective and priorities. In this world of satellite television, sports schedules, social events, and even church commitments, it takes a concerted effort and solid commitment to let heaven fill your thoughts. While other demands distract us and other delights attract us, God invites you to live on another plane and operate on a different platform from the world as you fill your thoughts with heaven.

Joy of heaven, I so easily feed my mind solely on the entertainment, amusements, and values of this world. Fill my mind with the reality and glory of heaven as I study your Word and nurture my longing for you.

DIGGING DEEPER