Aaron Armstrong

bloggingtheologically.com

spiritual growth

Set your mind on Christ

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An open Bible being read

One of my favorite books of the Bible is Colossians. Every time I read it, I’m overwhelmed. Paul was dealing with a peculiar bit of false teaching in Colossians, a synthesis of Jewish and pagan folk belief. What some scholars believe happened at Colossae was that a shaman-like figure was presenting himself as a Christian spiritual guide; a mystic likely claiming to have superior insight into the spiritual realm and therefore advising the Christians there to perform certain rites and rituals to protect themselves from evil spirits and for their deliverance from affliction:

  • To practice asceticism; to deny themselves certain food or drink.
  • To practice the Jewish festivals and the Sabbath.
  • To worship angels.
  • To experience visions of spiritual things.

This false teacher judged the believers for not practicing these things. His judgment, of course, only served one purpose: to puff himself up. To show that salvation could be attained through man-made effort and ecstatic experience, which is a problem that still exists today, and still masquerades as Christianity.

Charlatans pose as men of God. Instead of pointing men and women to Jesus, they put on big shows about how they punched demons out of people, or visited Paul’s cottage in the third heaven. What’s worse is they draw a crowd as they pour gasoline on the fire that burns in our hearts. Our desire to focus on ourselves. To be the masters of our own destinies. To be our own gods.

False teachers all repeat the same lie Satan told Adam and Eve in the garden (Gen. 3), and we keep believing it. So sometimes we’ll deprive ourselves physically, or we indulge ourselves in all sorts of excess. We will whip ourselves up into a sort of spiritual frenzy. And for what? Ultimately, nothing.

But Paul gives us these words to counteract this. “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col. 3:1-2).

 

In Christ, we don’t have to look to the things of the world, or to ourselves, for hope. We look to Christ. We pursue him. We seek to live like and for him, as we seek first the kingdom of heaven. But we can’t do this—we can’t seek him—without spending time in his Word. Seeking the things above, setting our minds on them, starts there.

As we read the Scriptures, as we study it and consume it, we grow in our love for Christ. We want to be more like him. We want to love what he loves, and how he loves. If we want to know Jesus, if we want to be transformed by him, that’s where it starts.

No need for fronts

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cannonballs

One thing I always walk away from the Scriptures with is the reminder that character really, really matters. I don’t pretend to be a perfect man, of course. Not even close. But something that scares me the most is how easy it is to put on a good show in public.

We see this all the time at work and church, don’t we, sometimes in innocent ways (and other times not so innocent)? Like when asked how we’re doing and we usually say, “Fine,” even when the morning has been a complete and utter disaster. Or when someone acts like they’ve got all their stuff together, but they’re cheating on their spouse.1 Although we should always be respectful and courteous in public, the truth is, our outward appearances don’t really matter that much in the grand scheme of things. They’re not a good indication of what’s going on in our hearts—because we can hide in public. I love the way Augustus Hopkins Strong describes this:

Little things are the best signs of character. Straws thrown into the air show which way the wind blows much better than the throwing up of bullets or cannonballs. In great things we have more thought of others, we are moved more by surrounding influences. In little things there is not the same possibility of concealment. We must sometimes forget, and then we act ourselves.2

This is important for me to remember, and not just because what we do in private (the small things) sets the tone for what happens in public. They’re key indicators, without question.3 But it’s also important because the people who are closest to me can see it, often better than I can. My wife has a better sense of my growth in godliness because she sees how it’s working itself out in the little things: how I respond to correction from her. How I treat our kids. What I say at the dinner table and when we’re alone.

With the people closest to us, there is no need for fronts. We don’t need to pretend we’re something that we’re not. They already know we’re all messes—and they give us the freedom to grow by God’s grace.

  1. This isn’t directed at a specific event or individual by the way. ↵
  2. Miscellanies, Volume II: Chiefly Theological (Philadelphia; Boston; Chicago; St. Louis; Toronto: Griffith & Rowland Press, 1912), 233. ↵
  3. And this is the context of the passage. ↵

When you’re feeling frustrated with your growth in holiness, remember this

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Sunset

When I was a young boy, I was often frustrated when I couldn’t figure out how to do something right the first time. Doesn’t matter if it was drawing, writing, or creating something delicious in my kitchen, I always wanted it to be right from day one. However, it rarely went that well. Instead, I would try something and fail. Then fail again. And again. And so on. Eventually, I started to learn that developing skills requires that. It takes time. Failing forward, as some might say.

But when I first became a Christian, I found myself frustrated again, for the same reasons. Although I (sort of) knew better, I kept thinking I should be growing as a believer faster. Prayer should be a snap. Bible reading, no problem. Witnessing, easy-peasy. Go forth, sin no more, and enjoy every day like it was a Friday.

But it didn’t work that way either. Instead, I slowly came to realize, growing in holiness took time, too. JC Ryle put it well in his book, Holiness:

Gradual growth in grace, growth in knowledge, growth in faith, growth in love, growth in holiness, growth in humility, growth in spiritual-mindedness—all this I see clearly taught and urged in Scripture, and clearly exemplified in the lives of many of God’s saints. But sudden, instantaneous leaps from conversion to consecration I fail to see in the Bible.

If you’ve been discouraged at your progress in the faith, be of good cheer. You are not alone. You may not see the kind of exponential growth you may hope for, but, by God’s grace, you are still seeing growth. And no matter how gradual that growth may be, you are becoming more like Christ, and every step in Christlikeness is still cause for celebration.

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