“IF ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” Not that there is any question in this “if,” as though the believers addressed were not risen with Christ, for the apostle had already said, “Ye are risen with Him” (ch. 2:12), but the “if” calls upon them to act up to their privileges, as we should say, “If you are the son of such a father, live worthily of your father.”
“Christ, who is our life,” has gone out of this world to God, and the Christian’s “life is hid with Christ in God.” The Christian’s life is sustained by the Holy Spirit ministering to us heavenly things― “things above.” The earthly things around us do not assist the new life. On the contrary, the Christian, whose mind is taken up with “philosophy,” “traditions of men,” or “rudiments of the world,” becomes “spoiled;” his heavenly character is tarnished by contact with the earthly things, and when the precious metal is tarnished it is oftentimes difficult to recognize whether it be indeed precious. We see the freshness, the bloom of the young Christian fading, as fades a flower taken from its native atmosphere and transplanted into unkindly soil. Of the flower we say, “The remedy is simple! Give it the air it loves.” But Christians often are perplexed at their own poor growth, and wonder why they do not get on! The reason is evident. The heavenly things are not the bent of their minds, the occupation of their affections. “Set your mind, or affection, on things above, not on things on the earth.” No amount of self-occupation will make us grow; but when the things above, where Christ is, are sought, growth follows. And in His presence there is true self-judgment. The dead leaves will be plucked off the plant when we are in Christ’s presence, and in His presence the silver will become bright and shining.
There are various other things above spoken of in the 1St chapter. Let our Christian reader search for them, and set his mind upon them.