Once upon a time a long time ago, I worked a couple summers for the Forest Service. Our initial training was fire control and orientation. Orientation is learning to arrive at a remote location by knowing the beginning point, the direction of destination and hopefully the elevation of the destination. We were trained to use a compass and dead reckoning—sighting to the next point we could see in the direction of the destination. Through forests, across valleys, around ridges, even in the dark of night, orienteering was our way of arriving at the destination even though we might not see it every step of the way. Paul conveys the same idea to the Colossians,
‘Above’ is our euphemism for everything included in the Kingdom of God. Remember back in the prayer Jesus gave His disciples, speaking of God, ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven’ 2—we are to have our attention focused upon what matters most to the LORD. The desire of the heart of God is to become our heart’s desire with our whole being committed to Him. ‘Seek’ and ‘Set’ are commitments that supersede the interests of this world. This is part of that ‘being crucified with Christ but nevertheless we live’ 3 where our life is conformed to Jesus and not to our former ways. Paul says it in Colossians as,
We have exchanged the old life for the new life in Jesus. It is impossible to live in both Life and death, Light and darkness even though many try to straddle the divide. The Kingdom of God is an in-or-out condition for there is no fellowship between Light and darkness, God or evil. Jesus Himself used the metaphor that ‘no man putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God.’ 5 What is behind cannot be ahead. You must keep fixed on what is ahead if you intend to reach the destination.