Daily Bible Reading 16th July 2025 // Colossians 3:5-10
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
But what does it mean in practice, in the nitty-gritty of everyday life, to set our minds and hearts on things above? Well, from v 5, Paul moves on to give this mindset and life orientation concrete expression and application. He earths his exhortations to being heavenly minded, in the earthly battle with the flesh, which every Christian pursues. Comparing and contrasting what they once were, in their sin, with what they now are 'in Christ', using three main imperatives, Paul urges the Colossians, and every believer: 'Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature...' (v 5); 'Put off (rid yourself of) all such things…(v 8) and 'Put on (clothe yourself)...' (v12). Peter O'Brien, in the Word Commentary on Colossians, has this very insightful comment:
Being heavenly minded does not mean living in the clouds! The believer who obeys the apostolic injunction to aim at the things above will be involved in an ongoing spiritual warfare here below as he or she puts to death sinful propensities and pursuits, and allows the new nature to find outward expression in a godly life.
There can be no thought for the Christian that he is too heavenly minded to be any earthly good. For Paul, being heavenly minded is of immense earthly good. In fact the more heavenly minded we are the more earthly good we will be. To set one's mind on things above is to live a godly and holy life here on earth, in the midst of all that would corrupt and tempt. To seek heavenly things is to 'Put off the old man and put on the new man' here and now.