The Resurrection Life: Setting, Shedding, Shining

"The Resurrection Life: Setting, Shedding, Shining"

I’m going to ask you to think about your thoughts over the last week. And then I’m gonna ask you to think about your thoughts over the last week in the context of the last month.

What has occupied your thinking? What has been the main focus of your mental activity when you’ve not been concentrating on some task, or maybe some school assignment?

Of course we all have things to spend our mental energy on. For those with young children, there’s an awful lot of thought that goes into just keeping your children safe, from themselves, from their environment.

When our children were young, and then now as our grandchildren are young, we put a lot of thought into keeping them safe, and when we’re with them, realizing their tendency to accidentally harm themselves, we pay close attention.

For those in school, of course the subjects that are being studied take a great deal of our mental energy.

And for those of us who don’t have young kids, and who are not in school, there is just a lot to think about in terms of doing life. Groceries, rent, budgeting. There’s an awful lot to think about.

For those of us who struggle with depression, our thoughts can just be a jumble. A mess of regret, self-recrimination or self-judgment.

We rehearse the same old scripts—mistakes we made two, ten, twenty, thirty, forty years ago, things we said last week that we’re sure people are still thinking about, even though they’ve likely forgotten.

We get caught in little mental cul-de-sacs where every road loops back to “What’s wrong with me?”

And the worst part is, these thoughts don’t feel like lies. They feel like the most honest thing in the room. That’s what mild depression does—it doesn’t scream; it just hums a dull, believable soundtrack of defeat in the background.

You don’t always even notice it's there until someone asks, “What’s been on your mind lately?”

And you suddenly realize you’ve spent the better part of the week mentally replaying every failure you’ve ever had like it’s your greatest hits album.

We can find ourselves obsessing over our shortcomings, our bodies, our reputations; it’s like a prison...we worry about our bank accounts, our kids, our past, our social media feed—basically everything except Christ, seated at the right hand of God.

Setting Hearts/Minds On Things Above (Vv.1–2)

And that’s exactly why this passage in Colossians starts the way it does: “Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above… set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

Paul knows that our minds have a gravitational pull—not toward glory, but toward the dust. Toward self-condemnation, petty distractions, and emotional clutter.

So he points us upward, not in a “just think happy thoughts” way, but in a reality check way. A “Christ is your life now” way. We’re not being asked to ignore the hard things. We’re being invited to lift our gaze. Because your life is not defined by your regrets, your shortcomings, or your moods.

Your life is now hidden with Christ in God. And that’s a reality more solid than your feelings on any given Tuesday.

3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Wait! I died? How did I miss that? What is Paul referring to here? He’s referring to our baptism, which was a symbol of us dying with Christ (going under the water), and being raised to new life with Christ (coming up out of the water.

In fact this is far more than a symbol. It truly represents what happens to us when we come to Jesus. Believers have spiritually ascended with Christ and are enthroned with Jesus at the Father’s right hand too.

When Paul says “...For you died”, he is giving us the reason we are able to set our minds on things above and not on earthly things. No one truly has that ability apart from Christ.

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Sing song: Jesus Christ is Lord; first with Col 3:3 up, then with all lyrics up)

You’ve often heard me say, if you’ve been around and you’ve been listening, that you as a believer are a beloved, adopted child of the Most High King of the Universe.

I really hope you believe that, or you are moving toward believing that. And if you question it, I hope that you search the Scriptures. Because if you do, you will discover that that very idea comes directly out of Scripture.

And the second part of verse 3, “Your life is now hidden with Christ in God”, is an important addition. It’s not just a poetic flourish—it’s a spiritual reality.