Seek the things above
The upward gaze
Paul gives a command that orients the whole inner life upward: if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. The risen life is meant to have a direction — upward, toward the realm where Christ now reigns. We are to seek the things above, to orient our desires, attention, and hopes toward heaven rather than fixing them only on the earth.
This is not a denial of earthly life but a reordering of it. The one whose deepest seeking is fixed above lives differently in the world below — holding earthly things in proper proportion, no longer enslaved to them, because their truest treasure and attention are elsewhere. To seek the things above is to let the reality of where Christ is, and where we are headed, govern how we live here and now.
And Paul ties this seeking to our union with Christ: if you have been raised with Christ. Because we have been joined to the risen Christ who is seated above, our lives are now connected to that realm; seeking the things above is simply living in accordance with where we already, in Christ, belong. Set your mind on things above, Paul adds, not on things on earth. The pilgrim near the city keeps lifting their gaze, seeking the things above, where Christ is and where home awaits. Where is your seeking actually directed — above, or only on the earth?
“If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.”
— Paul, to the Colossians — Colossians 3:1 (WEB)
Direct your seeking upward — toward the things above, where Christ reigns — letting the reality of where you are headed reorder how you live here.
“Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.”
Left to itself, the heart's seeking runs downhill, settling so naturally on earthly concerns that heaven barely registers in what we want or where our attention goes. The interior work is to obey the summons to seek the things above and to root that obedience in a fact already true of us — we have been raised with Christ, who is seated there — so that lifting the gaze is no strain but a homecoming to the realm we belong to, and the things of earth shrink back to their proper size.
This week, lift your gaze: when you notice your seeking fixed entirely on earthly concerns, deliberately turn your desires and attention upward to Christ and the home that awaits, letting that reality reorder your priorities below.
Distraction is content to leave your creed untouched as long as it can keep your wanting fixed downward, on earthly concerns alone, until the things of this world quietly become your masters. But a soul that seeks the things above, where Christ reigns, holds the earth in true proportion and lives free, governed by the home it is traveling toward.
Paul commands a direction for the risen life: seek the things that are above, where Christ is. Our desires, attention, and hopes are meant to be oriented upward, toward the realm where Christ now reigns, rather than fixed only on the earth. This is not a denial of earthly life but a reordering of it — the one whose deepest seeking is fixed above holds earthly things in proper proportion, no longer enslaved to them.
The reason is our union with the risen Christ: because we have been raised with him who is seated above, our lives are already connected to that realm, and seeking the things above is simply living in accord with where we now belong. Yet our seeking so easily defaults downward, fixed entirely on earthly concerns. The pilgrim near the city keeps deliberately lifting the gaze, setting the mind on things above. So examine where your seeking actually points day to day: upward, toward Christ and the home that awaits, or only on the things of earth?
- Where is my seeking actually directed — above, or only on earth?
- Does the reality of where Christ is govern how I live here?
- What would change if I deliberately set my mind on things above?
Lord, my seeking defaults downward, fixed on the things of earth, while you call me to seek the things above, where Christ reigns. Lift my gaze. Let my union with the risen Christ reorder my desires, and govern my life below by the home above. Amen.