Eye on the Prize

Whenever my wife and I have been in a car together where I was the driver, when we arrive at our destination, the door handle on the passenger side inevitably has an indentation of her hand wrapped tightly with white knuckles holding on for dear life. The passenger floorboard has a hole from the invisible brake pedal she has been pressing nearly every breathtaking second of the entire trip. And we may or may not be in need of marriage counseling (depending on the length of the journey).

Now, I don’t understand it. I, of course, believe I’m an excellent driver. She, on the other hand, tells me that my short attention span gets the best of me as I inevitably see a squirrel or shiny object on the side of the road, and the car begins to drift in the direction that I’m looking. Needless to say, I am often the passenger on these trips! (And she is probably correct.)

The same happens, and is even taught, if you ever have the chance to go rafting down the beautiful rivers of the Smoky Mountains. One of the first things instructors will teach before climbing into your raft is that if you see a dangerous rapid or waterfall that you want to avoid, don’t look at it! Look toward the direction you want to go, because whatever you are looking toward is the direction your raft is going to take you.

In Colossians 3:1 we see this principle in a spiritual sense, which makes this even more vital for our personal walk with Christ and for our ability to be the leaders God has called us to be than it is when driving or rafting.

The NASB translates this verse to say, “Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”

The Greek word translated as “seeking” is a word that is often used to “look for” someone or something. Matthew and Mark use this word to quote the angel at the empty tomb after the resurrection of Jesus when the angel tells the women that they are “looking for” Jesus. John uses this word to quote Jesus when Judas led the soldiers to arrest Him and Jesus asked, “Who are you looking for?”

The word translated as “above” can also be translated as “heaven.” It is the same word used to quote Jesus by John saying, “You are from this world, but I am from above.” 

With these original words in mind, the NLT may have best captured the heart of this passage for the current day English reader when it translates this as, “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.”

What I love about this translation is the intentional focus it requires and the repentance that it demands. If my eyes are set on the things above, they can’t also be set on the sin that so easily entangles me. I must first look away from and repent from sin and set my sights toward a different direction.

In fact, that’s what Paul would go on to tell the Colossians in the rest of this chapter. They – and we – must think about the things of heaven and not have anything to do with the things of earth. Turn completely away from the dangers of sin, not even giving them a glance, Paul says, because – ultimately – “Christ is all that matters…” (Colossians 3:11).

So, what would it be like to set your sights on the “things of heaven” or the “things that are above”? I can’t help but think of Jesus’ repeated teachings about the Kingdom of Heaven to try to answer this. Even in the Lord’s Prayer, He taught us to pray that it would be “on earth as it is in heaven,” as if there is a new culture with new laws, a new language, and new assumptions by which we should live. We should live here as if we are living in heaven.

If that is so, then what would it be like to have our sights so fixed on the Kingdom that it is the only direction I am headed because it is the only thing I am seeing? I can’t have my sights set on the approval of others, personal preference, or my own hedonism – all things of this world – and have my sights set on the things of heaven. My church can’t have its sights set on comfort, tradition, fear of loss, or division and also have its sights set on the things of heaven.

What each of us are looking toward is the direction we will go. If it is sin, that is where we will end up. If it is my success, looking for fault in others, a political belief, or searching for fulfillment in my job or a relationship – again, all things of this earth – it won’t be the realities or things of heaven above.

For one last question, what will it look like if I am setting my sights on the things or culture of heaven and if that is the direction I am going? In heaven, “where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” there is constant worship, the perpetual presence of the Spirit, justice, mercy, freedom from sin, and every tribe, nation, and tongue. When our lives and our churches are looking more like this every day, we will know we have set our sights toward the things above and away from the things of this earth.

So, my prayer for each of you – for each of us – is that we will “put on (this) new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him,” by keeping our eyes on the “heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”