Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Paul has just finished exhorting the Colossian Church to...
1) not be "deluded with plausible arguments", or "take captive by philosophy".
2) leave behind the "elemental spirits of the world", specifically the regulations and rituals which have no value.
The language that particularly impressed me was his constant reference to death. He even tell us to actively "put to death" the remaining earthly things within us. Oddly enough, I read this passage after day when I have saturated myself with this world. When I came to my devotions tonight I realized that I had not prayed once, except for my meals and hardly a spiritual thought had crossed my mind all day.
The Christian life is one that begins with death. It is as a dramatic separation as a physical death. When we come to the cross and die with Christ, we are torn from the world; yet we still exist in this sphere, with all its temptations and preoccupations clamoring at us.
I suppose we must reenact the passion every day: standing against those earthy lusts that fight to drag us back down. We must continually die and at the same time live more and more. It's paradoxical.
And it all points to Jesus. More and more I understand that my life must be nothing but a retelling of Christ's gospel. It's the only story worth telling. As Paul says, "Him we proclaim..."
