Holy Company – Colossians 3:1-4

Project Life Mastery has this as its main principle: “Surround yourself with people that reflect who you want to be and how you want to feel. Energies are contagious.” In answer to the question, “Do you become like the people you spend the most time with, Quora answers yes and holds that “In the dating pool, you will almost certainly learn more about someone from meeting their friends than you will from going on three dates with the person. If you like someone’s friends, you will likely like the person.” and asserts, “Traits are very contagious.” Jim Rohn, a motivational speaker, famously said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

The Bible says, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm” (Proverbs 13:20) and “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Can this apply to becoming holy?

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4, ESV)

If denial of the body is not the way to holiness, what is? Seeking the things above is the way. Christ has been raised from the dead and seated with God at His right hand in heaven. He is and should be our focus, not earthly things like diet and discipline. This is not to say that the spiritual disciplines that we utilize are wrong but they must be used correctly. They are not to be used to subdue the flesh by, for example, denying food (fasting) or company (solitude), but they are to be used to focus our minds and hearts on Jesus. I fast, for example, in order to spend time with the Lord because that is more valuable to me than eating. I spend time alone, not to avoid temptation, but to have time to focus in prayer and reading God’s word and being with Him.

When Jesus died, because we are “in” him, we died also. Our life has been hidden or couched in his life. He is the “secret” to spiritual growth and godliness being a reality in our lives. We have the guarantee of glory because Christ is coming in glory and we are in him. As we focus on Jesus, as we spend time in intimate interaction with him, through correct doctrine about him, talking to him, hearing from him, and worshiping him, we will be changed into his likeness. We may continue to mess up, to sin, but even that, as we bring it to him, will result in our being transformed into his likeness, and if we come to him before we sin, when we are tempted, he will help us avoid sinning. He is everything. As Paul said elsewhere, “to me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21).

Christians have made much of the spiritual discipline of daily quiet or devotional time, and rightly so. It is time set aside daily to be with Jesus. We sometimes think of it instead as one thing on our checklist to do for God’s approval but this is to misunderstand its purpose. It is not a denial of the body but rather a time of intimate focus on Jesus that alters our thinking and behavior, not through self-effort but through his life pouring into mine. If someone were to come to you for mentoring and spent a great deal of time with you learning, they would gradually become more and more like you. The same works for us as we spend time with Jesus. We must seek the things that are above where Jesus is. We must seek Jesus.