Do Not Seek Earthly Things

Colossians 3:2 "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

As Christians, we must not set our minds on earthly things.  There are two types of earthly things:

1) Sin.  We know this from Colossians 3:5, where the earthly nature is described with a series of sinful behaviors.

2) The world.  Things that are not necessarily sinful, but hinder your pursuit of things above.  1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

What is "the world" that we must not love?  The answer is found in 1 John 2:16, "For everything in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one's possessions -- is not from the Father, but is from the world."

1) The lust of the flesh = physical pleasure.

2) The lust of the eyes = money and material possessions. 

3) The pride in one's possessions = position and honor. 

Charles Spurgeon called these "the trinity of defilers by which many hopeful lives have been spoiled."  Thomas Watson called them "the wicked man's trinity."  Pastor James MacDonald called them the "three access points to the human heart."  They are three desires:  physical desires (lust of the flesh), visual desires (lust of the eyes), and positional desires (the desire to gain position and prestige and impress others; the pride in one's possessions). 

We must not seek/set our minds on earthly things.  It is okay to have them.  Even to enjoy them.  But we must be careful not to "think only, or chiefly, of this world's things, and neglect the world to come -- the people who are always thinking more of earth than of Heaven, more of time than eternity, more of the body than of the soul, more of pleasing men than of pleasing God (JC Ryle)."  Earthly things must not be our priority, or compete with and crowd out the things above.