Why It’s So Difficult to Set Our Minds on Things Above
Body
“Paul commands us to set our minds on things above (Col. 3:1–4), and one reason for this instruction is that it’s so much easier not to. All sorts of diversions come more naturally.” - TGC
As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“Paul commands us to set our minds on things above (Col. 3:1–4), and one reason for this instruction is that it’s so much easier not to. All sorts of diversions come more naturally.” - TGC
From Voice, Mar/Apr 2014. Used by permission.
Recently I read an article which began with these words:
Some time ago a man said to me, “I drink beer in the pub in my spare time. Some guys I know go out chasing women. So what’s the difference? Your hobby is Christianity.” To think that a man could look at me and say that Christianity was just a pleasant spare time occupation like collecting stamps or yachting. Is that my definition of Christianity? Do I put it second, or do I put it first?
This quotation points out the fact that if our faith does not change our lives, even the world questions the genuineness of our profession.
“Ironically, the intellectual heft of historic Catholicism and its enviable aesthetic achievements seem to be the very things that the pope regards with indifference. And both of these seem to connect to that telltale sign that always presages trouble in Christian circles: a loss of the transcendent in favor of the immanent.” - Carl Trueman
“Trueman is correct that moral sensibilities have profoundly shifted both within the church and without in recent decades. The church is generally ill-equipped even to begin formulating rationale to address the complex ethical questions it is confronted with.” - Mere Orthodoxy
“Something is seriously wrong when Christians crave cultural popularity and acceptance. That’s why I greatly appreciated the points made in this article by Brett McCracken” - Randy Alcorn
“Now that I look back on that way of life, I’m not ashamed of it. Our legalism and separation from all ‘worldliness’ kept me from falling into many dangers.” - Olson
The Fundamentals of Sanctification and Cultural Fundamentalism - Don Johnson
“What I am asking is if the concept of ‘separation from the world’ … has meaning anymore—among doctrinally conservative, spiritually evangelical Protestant Christians. Are there really no boundaries of behavior? If so, why do I almost never hear about them?” - Roger Olson
“What are Christians to do with practices, symbols, parties, and customs we find in a culture? Here are three options when it comes to how we treat and respond to something in the culture.” - Geiger
Discussion