“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth,” Colossians 3:2.
When I neglect the habit of daily exercise I can sure feel it. The core strength, the energy and the mental sharpness just isn’t there. There is a definite difference in my life when I bypass the exercise my body needs and that it’s been created to need. But when I do exercise, wow! I feel drastically better in every way – physically, mentally, emotionally. The very practice of exercising purifies me in countless ways and my mind and body seem to be more alert.
This is the same principle we find in Colossians 3:2 in the discipline of, “Set your mind on things above.” The word “set”, in it’s original Greek actually means, “to exercise. to repeat an action over and over again.” As we exercise the daily practice of reading our Bible, it will have a purifying effect on our minds, our emotions, and yes, our own bodies. We will be able to think “on things above” and those things will be what makes us stronger. What are those things? They’re found in the pages of our Bible. They’re spiritual in nature because the pages of our Bibles ARE the nature of God. As we read, we are setting our mind on heavenly things, and the daily practice of such exercise effects our mind and our heart like nothing else on this earth can.
“The very practice of reading the Bible will have a purifying effect upon your mind and heart. Let nothing take the place of this daily exercise.” – Billy Graham
Did Jesus’ exercise in this way while on the earth? Absolutely. Three times in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus exercised His mind (making it obedient unto His Father), by repeating the same prayer over and over again:
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39.
All three times, He exercised His mind by deliberately “setting it on things above” – which was the will of His Father. During His exercise of prayer, He was being divinely strengthened. As the Roman soldiers came to arrest Him, He asked who they were coming for and after they said, “Jesus the Nazarene”, He said, “I am he.” As those three words came out of His mouth, the soldiers “drew back and fell to the ground.” Now, that’s power! That’s “things above” power! And that’s the same power you and I have been given as we, too, set our mind on things above. As we feed and fuel our lives with the daily exercise of reading our Bibles, as we pray those receptive prayers, we are being empowered. Our Bibles are not earthly things. Instead, our Bibles are the living and breathing Word of God!
