Fix Your Eyes On Eternity: A 12-Day Devotional On Heaven And The New EarthSample

Over the years, a number of people have told me, “We shouldn’t think about Heaven. We should just think about Jesus.”

This viewpoint sounds spiritual, doesn’t it? But it is based on wrong assumptions, and it is clearly contradicted by Scripture.

Colossians 3:1-2 is a direct command to set our hearts and minds on Heaven. We do so because we love Jesus Christ, and Heaven is where He now resides. To long for Heaven is to long for Christ. To long for Christ is to long for Heaven, for that is where we will be with Him. That’s why God’s people are “longing for a better country” (Hebrews 11:16).

In Colossians 3:1, the Greek word translated “set your hearts on” is zeteo. The same word is used in the Gospels to describe how “the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). Zeteo is also used to describe how a shepherd looks for his lost sheep (Matthew 18:12), a woman searches for a lost coin (Luke 15:8), and a merchant searches for fine pearls (Matthew 13:45). It is a diligent, active, single-minded pursuit. Thus, we can understand Paul’s admonition in Colossians 3:1 as follows: “Diligently, actively, single-mindedly pursue the things above”—in a word, Heaven.

Every day, the command to think about Heaven is under attack. Our minds are unaccustomed to heavenly thinking. So we must work at it—and not just have a conversation, read a book, or listen to a sermon and feel as if we’ve fulfilled the command.

Perhaps you’re afraid of becoming “so heavenly minded that you’re of no earthly good.” Relax—you have nothing to worry about! On the contrary, many of us are so earthly minded we are of no heavenly or earthly good. As C. S. Lewis observed, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.. . . It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”

We need a generation of heavenly minded people who see human beings and the earth itself not simply as they are, but as God intends them to be. Such people will pass on a heritage to their children far more valuable than any inheritance.

What have you been doing daily to set your mind on things above, to seek Heaven? What might you do differently?

For more on the subject of Heaven, Eternal Perspective Ministries invites you to visit their website. You can also browse Randy Alcorn's books, including his book Heaven.