Love and Your Mindset

The New Commandment

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
--John 13:34-35

Love and Your Mindset

"And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
--Col 3:14

Perfect harmony.  What a concept!  I have certainly not achieved this state in my relationships.  Even the closest friendships I have don't sound like a perfectly blending a capella group.  There are moments--and sometimes days or weeks--of discord that create a clashing, painful racket.  Thank God that the reason for this disunity is so plain and obvious.  If we are not in perfect harmony, then we are not loving each other as we should.

Love is incredibly important for the believer.  It is so important that this passage actually directly states that it is "above" many other important godly traits.  For example: "compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another"--each of these important characteristics must submit to love.  Why?  Because without love, it is impossible to bear even one of these Christian fruits.

So love is absolutely crucial.  The context of this verse, the rest of the chapter, sheds more light on what this love means, and how it can be lived out.

The central theme of Colossians 3 is a contrast between the earthly and the heavenly.  The opening statement of the chapter is this: "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."

Set your mind on the the things above--not the things which are on earth.

Love flows out of this simple yet profoundly impactful choice that each person makes.  On what will you set your mind?

What are the things on earth?
Attention, beauty, clothes, fun, being liked, man's praise, money, pleasure, power, reputation, talents, worries.

What is above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God?
Heaven, my eternal home.

Certainly there is more to love than this, yet this simple truth could deeply impact my life and my love if I let it.  Set your mind on heaven, and as the things of earth fade away, love will overflow out of your heart and into your actions.

Death to worldly thought patterns leads to a growing, godly life.  "You have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator (v. 9-10)."  Beginning with the mind, there is an inescapable, undefeatable new life with all new desires.  If you are a believer, your life is already being renewed--in your mind's knowledge--so that you are being transformed to look like the one who made you.

If you are struggling to love anyone in your life, take comfort in the fact that your mind is already being renewed, and God will not stop untill you look like Him.  And as you rest in this truth, take action: make it a priority to think about heaven every day.  When that person does something annoying that drives you crazy, or makes an effort to put herself in your path when you don't want to deal with her, or shoots back a stinging remark--take a minute to set your mind on the things above, where your Savior is sitting down at the right hand of God the Father.

To image Christ to the world, be intentional about meditating on heaven, so that love will flow from your mind to your heart and out to everyone you know.