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Mind Lock: Setting Your Mind on Things Above

Brent Pollard

George Lucas opened his career with a story about attention. In THX 1138, an underground society sedates its citizens into compliance and assigns each one a station. The protagonist works a line handling volatile material, where a single lapse in concentration ignites a chain reaction no operator can reverse. Then he stops swallowing the prescribed drugs, his affections wake up, and his focus splinters. The monitoring voice logs the failure with one clinical phrase: mind lock. The plant slides toward meltdown. No saboteur cut a wire. A man simply thought about one thing while his hands worked on another.

That fiction diagnoses what the Holy Spirit addressed nineteen centuries earlier. “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Colossians 3.2). Paul offers no gentle recommendation for the contemplative temperament. He issues an order binding every Christian who draws breath. And beneath that order lies a warning our own biographies keep confirming: the meltdown never arrives first. It arrives last.

What Colossians 3.2 Actually Commands

Verse two rests on verse one. “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3.1). The imperative presupposes an accomplished fact. God buried us with His Son and raised us up in baptism through faith in His working (Colossians 2.12). We contributed nothing to that empty tomb. Grace did the raising. Yet the man God raises must now direct his thoughts, because resurrection life does not steer itself.

The verb Paul selects reaches well past the intellect. It governs disposition, taste, allegiance — what a man relishes when nobody supervises him. A mind “set” leans. It prefers. Knowing where the North Star hangs differs entirely from steering by it, and Colossians 3.2 demands the steering. Verse three closes the argument: “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Corpses do not negotiate with old appetites.

How Spiritual Meltdowns Actually Happen

Scripture records no righteous man who collapsed without warning. David’s adultery began on a rooftop with idle eyes and an empty afternoon while other kings marched to war (2 Samuel 11.1-2). Demas never argued theology with Paul; he “loved this present world” and slipped out quietly (2 Timothy 4.10). Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom because the plain looked well-watered (Genesis 13.10-11); the look preceded the ruin by years.

Paul locates the outcome in the aim. Those who live according to the flesh fix their minds on fleshly things, and those who live according to the Spirit fix theirs on the Spirit’s. “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8.5-6). Death and peace do not fall from the sky. They grow from where a man parks his daily attention.

Consider Martha. She served the Lord in her own house, yet Luke reports she “was distracted with all her preparations” (Luke 10.40) until devotion soured into complaint against her sister. Her hands worked holy labor. Her mind had wandered to the kitchen. James names the condition exactly: a double-minded man proves “unstable in all his ways” (James 1.8). Not some ways. All of them.

Why Earthly Things Cannot Bear the Weight We Give Them

Paul smuggles in no contempt for material creation. God pronounced His handiwork good (Genesis 1.31) and “richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6.17). The problem lies in proportion, not in matter. A man can drown in a bathtub of perfectly clean water.

“We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen” — the seen expires, the unseen endures (2 Corinthians 4.18). The verb translated “look” means to aim at, to take as a target. Paul describes marksmanship, not daydreaming. Every mortgage statement, every diagnosis, every headline lobbies for front-page space in your mind and pays its rent in anxiety. They are real. They are also expiring. Jesus settled the matter: “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6.21). He never commanded us to drag our affections uphill by willpower. He told us to move the treasure and let the heart follow it home.

The Joy That Makes a Heavenly Focus Possible

No one empties a mind. We only crowd it, which is why Paul supplies a list of occupants — whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute — and commands us to “dwell on these things” (Philippians 4.8). Yet the man who obeys Colossians 3.2 finds better than a list: a Person seated at the right hand of God, worth more than everything the plain of Sodom ever advertised.

This is why the command carries no drudgery. “In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever” (Psalm 16.11). Asaph nearly slipped, envying prosperous scoffers, then recovered his footing in the sanctuary, where God’s supremacy reordered every value he held (Psalm 73.2, 17). He walked out saying, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth” (Psalm 73.25). Delight, not duty, dismantled his envy.

Underneath that delight runs the deepest astonishment available to us: the Christ we contemplate never waited for us to deserve Him. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5.8). Grace of that magnitude licenses no drift; it instructs us “to deny ungodliness and worldly desires” and to live righteously in the present age (Titus 2.11-12). Gratitude burns as the cleanest fuel a disciple ever pours into obedience.

Practical Habits for Setting the Mind on Things Above

Begin the day upward. David directed his prayer to God in the morning and watched (Psalm 5.3); the feed and the forecast can wait an hour. Guard the intake: “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes” (Psalm 101.3) reads as a media policy long before it reads as poetry. Load the memory until the word of Christ dwells in you richly (Colossians 3.16), because a mind stocked at eight in the morning has ammunition at eight at night. Sanctify ordinary labor rather than resent it — “whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3.17) — since the command redirects the mind, never the hands. Gather with saints who stimulate you to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10.24-25). And when a thought arrives that has no business in a raised man’s head, take it captive at the doorway (2 Corinthians 10.5), while it remains a visitor and not yet a tenant.

The alarm always sounds before the meltdown. Christ has already raised you, hidden your life in God, and seated Himself where your attention belongs; the discipline that remains is refusing to look away. “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory” (Colossians 3.4). Fix your eyes on Him (Hebrews 12.2). Keep them there through the diagnosis, the layoff, the funeral, and the tedious workday. A mind anchored above holds steady when everything below shakes — and one day the One you have contemplated will step into view, and you will discover you were rehearsing for that sight your whole life.

Celebrating Six Months!

Are you looking for an “old school” and fun way to connect? Kathy began “A Tiny Spark” snail mail club in March. This subscription mail club comes packed with a personal letter, an interview with a Christian woman, a recipe card, fun stickers, a personal art print painted by her, and a new “tiny surprise” all in a letter personally addressed! Ladies from 38 states and five foreign counties have enjoyed their “Tiny Spark” this year! If you’d like more information about subscriptions, follow the link below:

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Christian, Who Are You?

Seneca’s Search

Gary Pollard

The following passage was written by Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 BC — AD 65) in Book I of Naturales quaestiones. There’s a decent chance that he was born the same year as Jesus of Nazareth. These seven books are certainly an interesting read, but I found his Preface to Book I especially fascinating. Reading this brings to mind, “God wanted people to look for him, and perhaps in searching all around for him, they would find him. But he is not far from any of us” (Acts 17.27). And, “There are things about God that people cannot see — his eternal power and all that makes him God. But since the beginning of the world, those things have been easy for people to understand. They are made clear in what God has made. So people have no excuse for the evil they do” (Rom 1.20). Seneca (and many of his predecessors, contemporaries, and spiritual descendants) looked for meaning and goodness in that aspect of reality that cannot be seen. Christ did come “at just the right time”! We’re reading an excerpt from a pagan historian and naturalist today because it gives valuable insight into aspects of the culture, worldviews, and concepts of the transcendent (as well as a refined understanding of words and concepts used in the first century) held by many when Christ and his followers operated on earth. 

Lucilius, my much esteemed friend — While a great gulf separates philosophy from the other learned arts, there is to my mind an equally wide gulf in philosophy itself between the portion which relates to human conduct and that which deals with the nature and the power of heaven. The latter is more exalted and more speculative, it allows itself wide liberty. It is not satisfied with mere observation, it surmises that there is a greater and fairer realm placed by nature beyond human sight. Between these two divisions of philosophy, in short, there is as wide a gulf as between their subjects, God and man. 

The one teaches us what should be done on earth; the other, what is done in heaven. The one dispels our errors and flashes a light by which to thread the mazes of life; the other far transcends this gloom in which we grope, rescues us from the darkness, and leads us to the very source of light itself. For myself, I am grateful to nature, not so much when I see her on the side that is open to the world, as when I am permitted to enter her shrine. Then one may seek to know of what stuff the universe is made, who is its Author or Guardian, what is the nature of God. Is He wholly absorbed in Himself, or does He sometimes regard us? does He do something daily, or has He done once for all? is He a portion of the world, or the whole world? may He issue new decrees even to-day and thus modify the laws of fate, or is it an infringement of His majesty and an acknowledgment of error to alter what has once been made? for surely the same must always please Him who can be pleased only with what is best. Nor yet withal is His freedom or power diminished, for He is a law unto Himself. 

Life would have been a useless gift, were I not admitted to the study of such themes. What cause for joy would it be to be set merely in the number of those who live? In order to digest food and drink? To repair a diseased, enfeebled body, that would perish unless it were continually refilled, and thus lead the life of a sick man’s attendant? To fear death, to which our very birth destines us? Away with the priceless boon! Life is not worth the heat and the sweat. How despicable a creature is man, unless he rise above the earth! What great thing can we do as long as we have to wrestle with our passions? Even if we prevail, we but conquer monsters. What cause have we to esteem ourselves because we are not quite so bad as the very worst? I can see no great reason for self-satisfaction because one’s strength is rather above the average of those in the same hospital. You are still very far from good health and vigour. Or, again, you have escaped vices of soul, the hypocrite’s brow, the flatterer’s speech fashioned to serve another’s will, the dissembler’s heart, the miser’s spirit, which robs all, but yet mortifies itself. You are a prey neither to luxury, which loses basely and repairs its losses still more basely; nor to ambition, which leads to place of worth only by unworthy means. But yet you have accomplished nothing. You have escaped many perils, but not yet that of self. 

The virtue we aim at raises to a splendid eminence; not so much because escape from vice is in itself a blessed thing, but rather because the soul is emancipated, prepared for the knowledge of heavenly things, and rendered worthy of entering into communion with God. 

Clarke, J. (1910). Physical science in the time of Nero, being a translation of the Quaestiones Naturales of Seneca. Macmillan & Co., London. pp 54-55

Where Do You Go When Life Gets Heavy?

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God Shall Wipe Away All Tears

Carl Pollard

Tears are a very interesting and important part of the human anatomy. Tears are produced by the tear gland, which are small glands that are in our upper eyelid. Tears keep the surface of your eyeball clean, and help protect your eye from damage. But there’s another function of tears. They appear when we experience heartache and sadness. They form when we encounter joy, heartbreak, and sometimes for no reason with some people.

When we cry because of something emotionally painful, most of the time we wish that the problem never would’ve happened In the first place. Tears are a natural part of life. It’s going to happen, no matter how tough we claim to be. At some point we are going to break under the pressure of this world. That’s why I’d like to spend a few moments in one of the most encouraging passages of scripture in the Bible, Isaiah 25:8-9. In these two verses we will notice three painful types of tears that will be wiped away.

It reads, “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

The first type of tears that will be wiped away are tears of death (v. 8). Every human on earth will experience death. Our lives will end in death, and scattered all throughout our days on earth we will lose those we love. Death is terrible. It tears us apart– we feel like we are drowning in heartbreak– that this pain will never end. We have to watch as mothers and fathers lose their children, children lose their parents, and spouses lose each other. Death is inevitable and something none of us ever want to go through. But there will come a day when we will never have to shed a tear over a loved one. We will never stand at a graveside again. God will make sure that his children never have to experience this heartache ever again. I long for heaven because the tears of death will be wiped away.

He will wipe away the tears of disgrace (8b). We can all agree that this world is full of evil. There is murder, rape, liars, gossip, and broken homes. This world is a place full of tears over the pain that comes from evil. Homes are torn apart and hearts are broken over the sin of others. A day will come when Christ will wipe away all tears (Rev. 21:4).  A day will come when Christ will mend the hearts of the broken. David spoke of his Joy in God. He says, “Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!” You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness” (Psa. 30:10-11). As Christians we can turn to God with hope, knowing that He is our helper and strength. We don’t have to face the evil of this world on our own. God can turn our heartache into Joy. He can wipe away the tears that sin has placed in our eyes. A time will come when the tears of disgrace will be wiped away.

God will wipe away the tears of distance and discouragement (9). It is common after a tragedy has occurred to hear someone pray, “Jesus come quickly.” We say this because we know that Christ is our way of escape from this world. Christ is our hope. We want Him to come back, to help us escape the sin that is around us. Sometimes this distance from God can cause us to become discouraged and to think that He isn’t coming back to save us. God will wipe away the tears of discouragement.

And on that day we will say, “This is OUR God.” The God that we have placed all hope and faith in. “This is OUR God that we have waited on to save us.” “This is OUR God that has brought us salvation.” The day will come when God will wipe away the tears that have been formed by the distance and discouragement we encounter on earth.

The day will also come when we will be judged for how we lived on earth. Can we say that we have waited on God? Can we rejoice in His return? Can we truthfully say that we have placed our faith and hope in God? On that day our tears will either be wiped away, or they will continue on into eternity. The question we must ask ourselves is this:  “Will God wipe away my tears?”

Season 6 Finale

I wrote this seven years ago today

Satan’s Schemes

This Week’s LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Short Video From Kathy

“A Tiny Spark” (May 2026)

New “Light Of The World” Episode (Debuted May 9, 2026)

Seemingly Sincere

Gary Pollard

So the Jewish leaders waited for the right time to get Jesus. They sent some men to him, who pretended to be sincere. They wanted to find something wrong with what Jesus said. … So the men said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is true. It doesn’t matter who is listening—you teach the same to all people. You always teach the truth about God’s way. Tell us, is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus knew that these men were trying to trick him. He said to them, “Show me a silver coin. Whose name and picture are on it?” They said, “Caesar’s.” He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” (Luke 20:20-25)

  • Caesar (Tiberius) was a mixed bag, but mostly bad. He did some good things for the economy but had a reputation for being depraved and paranoid. The moral character of a nation’s leader does not impact our responsibility toward them.
  • Jesus, the model teacher, was always consistent in what he taught. It’s a human trait to latch onto traditions and defend them against the words of God. Proponents of legalistic teachings may even appear to be sincere — and, like the Pharisees, may even believe that they are. These teachers acknowledged his teachings in one breath, but denied them through their own beliefs.
  • The inspired writer, Luke, was given insight into the motives of the religious figures that we aren’t usually privy to. It can be difficult to distinguish between a healthy interpretation and “rules that seem to be wise.” Jesus elsewhere says, “You can identify a tree by the fruit it produces.”

Light Of The World (Season 6, Episode 21)

With Hiram Kemp and Neal Pollard

“The Importance Of Growing”

Jesus Didn’t Retire

Jesus Didn’t Retire

Reposting (As Dale is out of state serving the Lord this week):

GAINING ENTRANCE

Great Post From My Favorite Writer

When Did I Get So Nosy?

“Light Of The World” (Debut 4/12/26)

Books by the Pollards

A Tiny Spark Snail Mail Club (Kathy Pollard)

Don’t Drink The Kool-Aid

Gary Pollard

There has been much talk over the last decade or so about potential devastation from celestial impactors. From Firestone, et al’s infamous paper1 to 3i/ATLAS to reasonable concern over the tens of thousands of “planet killers” in our cosmic neighborhood, doomsday predictions have come back. Not without precedent, either. It’s very difficult to spend time in any text from the great myth-making epoch (during which all archetypes were established) and not see how the events in heaven shaped the earth and its ages. 

I have been interested in comparative mythology for some years now, and have always wondered why there was so much fear among the ancients at the appearance of a comet. The craters all over this earth are incontrovertible proof that this planet has experienced its fair share of super-nukes from space. The connection between some of the language used of heavenly beings and celestial objects is interesting, if confusing, in the ancient stories. 

So the concern is legitimate…for people outside of Christ, anyway. Luke 21.25ff employs some language that sounds remarkably like ancient descriptions of world-age-ending cosmic catastrophes. It seems — if that’s what Luke is actually talking about — that the next big impact will be the last. We have no idea when that will be. Every space agency has freely admitted that we’re totally blind to the many thousands of potential planet-killers. It’s not as uncommon as we’d like for us to discover a new celestial body as it’s passing between us and the moon. Twice a year we pass through the debris stream of some ancient celestial body (Taurids), and we’ve likely experienced a regional cataclysm or two in our past because of it. 

It’s possible that Jesus was talking about an impactor serving as the tool of earth’s destruction in Luke 21.25ff. The language used in those verses implicates the entire world (not just some tiny city in a tiny Middle Eastern country), making it unlikely that the events of AD 70 were intended in those verses. “People of this age” is a reasonable translation of vs 32, and the “powers of heaven” weren’t disrupted in AD 70. The whole earth wasn’t gripped with anxiety at the fate of the planet. The sound of the sea and its crashing waves played no role in the siege of Titus. Everything in the sky was not changed. The whole planet “earth and sky” was not destroyed. What we don’t learn from this passage is the date — and we’ll never know the specific day and hour.

Near Earth Object (NEO) 99942 Apophis is the one most concerning to the world, projected to come within 20,000 miles of the surface of the earth — 2,000 miles closer to us than most of our satellites in geosynchronous orbit. 2 That its flyby date is Friday April 13, 2029 is mildly interesting. But it’s “only” about 1,400 feet long, probably not large enough to rip atmosphere from earth and reduce everything to atoms.3 More importantly, we know Apophis is coming and we know roughly when, so that disqualifies it from being the harbinger of earth’s demise. Besides all of that, it is very likely going to miss the earth entirely, assuming nothing moves it from its path. 

I’ve referenced Luke 21.25ff a couple of times, and for a reason. Popular figures have injected knowledge of this cosmic danger into the Zeitgeist (the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time).4 Peoples’ reactions range from anxiety to anticipation. There are two very important things for the Christian to keep in mind as hype over 2029 (or any other potential celestial impact) ramps up: 

  1. Whatever happens, live right. Both Luke 21 and II Peter 3 encourage us to live like Christ, regardless of what’s happening around us. 
  2. We won’t be stuck in a state of terror like the rest of the world. “When these things begin to happen, stand up tall and don’t be afraid. Know that it’s almost time for God to free you!” 

We may see some fear-mongering on this topic in the near future. It’s not unique to our century by any stretch! And while I find the topic utterly fascinating, I also find encouragement and courage in Luke 21 and II Peter 3. Earth’s destruction is the beginning of a perfect eternity for all who are in Christ, and not “the end” as the world sees it. “Waiting for and hurrying” that day — whenever it goes down and by whatever means — is the appropriate mindset every Christian should have! 

 1 Firestone, et al. (2007). Evidence for an extraterrestrial impact 12,900 years ago that contributed to the megafaunal extinctions and the Younger Dryas cooling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 104(41): 16016-16021. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0706977104

 2 science.nasa.gov/solar-system/asteroids/apophis

 3 II Pt 3.10-13

4  e.g. Graham Hancock’s Magicians of the Gods, Randall Carlson’s presentations, popular YouTube channels like The Why Files, people like Carolyn Shoemaker, Mark Rober, and Brian May, and many, many others. 

Sweet, But Undeserved

Read more: Sweet, But Undeserved
Making God Smile