Colossians 3

"SET YOUR MINDS"

 

 

3 If then you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

 

² And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.

 

³ For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.

 

⁴ When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory.

 

⁵ So kill (deaden, ^[a]deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God).

 

EPHESIANS 1

 

 

⁵ For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [^[b]because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]—

⁶ [So that we might be] to the praise and the commendation of His glorious grace (favor and mercy), which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

⁷ In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor,

⁸ Which He lavished upon us in every kind of wisdom and understanding (practical insight and prudence),

⁹ Making known to us the mystery (secret) of His will (of His plan, of His purpose). [And it is this:] In accordance with His good pleasure (His merciful intention) which He had previously purposed and set forth in ^[c]Him,

¹⁰ [He planned] for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, [both] things in heaven and things on the earth.

¹¹ In Him we also were made [God’s] heritage (portion) and we obtained an inheritance; for we had been foreordained (chosen and appointed beforehand) in accordance with His purpose, Who works out everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His [own] will,

¹² So that we who first hoped in Christ [who first put our confidence in Him have been destined and appointed to] live for the praise of His glory!

 

 

Beloved; set your minds and keep them set on what is above. He has a plan and purpose for your life. Amen!