Thinking about Christ Minute by Minute Adds Up
[1] If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. [3] For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. [4] When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
[5] Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. [6] On account of these the wrath of God is coming. [7] In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. [8] But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. [9] Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices [10] and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. [11] Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Colossians 3:1–11 ESV
This whole section is a great lesson in what to think about during the day and what habits we build. When we lived by our fleshly desires, we thought about how to satisfy those desires. How do I feel happy? How do I get attention? How do I have pleasure? How do I feel like I belong in this group?
None of those are bad in and of themselves. God invented happiness. God wants to show you off. God invented your nerves so that you could enjoy good things. God created you to be a part of a group of people closer than a family.
When we chase after those things by our own will, we do what Adam and Eve did, we cut God out of the game that He Himself created. That brings penalty and punishment. When we do things God’s way, and make God the primary thing that we are seeking, everything else falls into place. Not only that, but it comes from the hand of God. Happiness becomes deeper, attention feels right instead of arrogant, and pleasure satisfies more than our nerve endings.
We aren’t fully renewed yet, but we aren’t lost causes either. Every minute of every day we have a choice of what to focus on. A day full of minutes focused on the Lord turns into a week, turns into a year, turns into a lifetime.