(C)In...
Illustration
(C)
In these verses, Paul directs the Christians to think about heavenly things. "Above" is defined as being where Christ is in opposition to "earth," which we can conclude to be the dwelling place of humans. To make the contrast even more vivid, one might think of earthly things as those things which tend to glorify fleshly pursuits as compared to heavenly things which glorify God. Paul could very well have been thinking along the same lines as he wrote to the Philippian Christians, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just ... whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Philippians 3:8) These are positive expressions of the fact that a person is or becomes the product of his thoughts. The quality of life that we sustain is determined by what we feed into our minds.
More than once I have heard it said or have observed the fact that a child walks just like his dad. Or perhaps there is a speech pattern or some other characteristic that stamps a child as being the son of a certain man. Perhaps unconsciously that child has copied the walk, speech, or temperament of the parent. Sometimes, however, the copying is much more deliberate. We choose to emulate a given characteristic or we choose to follow a given philosophy of life held by a parent which we feel worthy of reproduction.
A Christian characteristic well worth our copying is to think on things heavenly which will produce a purity of lifestyle worthy of the Christ "seated at the right hand of God."
-- Fegan
In these verses, Paul directs the Christians to think about heavenly things. "Above" is defined as being where Christ is in opposition to "earth," which we can conclude to be the dwelling place of humans. To make the contrast even more vivid, one might think of earthly things as those things which tend to glorify fleshly pursuits as compared to heavenly things which glorify God. Paul could very well have been thinking along the same lines as he wrote to the Philippian Christians, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just ... whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Philippians 3:8) These are positive expressions of the fact that a person is or becomes the product of his thoughts. The quality of life that we sustain is determined by what we feed into our minds.
More than once I have heard it said or have observed the fact that a child walks just like his dad. Or perhaps there is a speech pattern or some other characteristic that stamps a child as being the son of a certain man. Perhaps unconsciously that child has copied the walk, speech, or temperament of the parent. Sometimes, however, the copying is much more deliberate. We choose to emulate a given characteristic or we choose to follow a given philosophy of life held by a parent which we feel worthy of reproduction.
A Christian characteristic well worth our copying is to think on things heavenly which will produce a purity of lifestyle worthy of the Christ "seated at the right hand of God."
-- Fegan
