This blog is based on a message by Pastor Todd Cosenza.
God does not speak to us, teach us, and direct us just so we can collect more spiritual information. The point is not to know more. The point is to go higher in God.
That distinction matters. Information is not the same as elevation. You can hear biblical teaching, own a Bible, and sit through message after message, and still remain at the same level if you never act on what God has given you.
It is a lot like owning a ladder. A ladder in the garage does not raise you to a higher place. It only gives you the opportunity to go higher. You still have to pull it out, set it up, and climb.
That is the challenge before us spiritually. Jesus has already provided the ladder. The question is whether we will climb it.
The danger of settling for information
Spiritual growth does not happen automatically just because truth is available. Truth has to be received, believed, and applied. The Word of God is meant to move us somewhere.
Sometimes people spend long seasons praying over the same burdens, feeling as if nothing has changed. Yet the issue may not be that God has withheld the answer. It may be that the answer exists in a higher place, and the invitation is to come up higher in Him.
That is why this message is so urgent. We cannot be content with possessing truth while refusing the climb that truth was meant to produce.
Dying to the world’s operating system
Colossians 2:20 asks a piercing question. If we died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why would we keep living as if we are still under them?
That does not mean disregarding laws or becoming rebellious in ordinary life. The point is deeper than that. The world has its own operating principles, its own way of thinking, its own way of controlling people, and ultimately its own way of destroying itself. Believers are not called to be trapped under that system.
In Christ, there is a supernatural way to live. There is a higher place.
Paul goes on in Colossians 2:21 with examples like these: do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. The message behind that mindset is simple. Someone has to keep controlling you because you cannot control yourself.
That kind of life is below what Jesus has provided. It is life managed from the outside rather than transformed from within.
Why the law had limits
Those commands echo Old Testament patterns. God gave Israel many instructions about what to avoid, what to touch, what to eat, and how to live. Those laws were not pointless. They served an important purpose.
Without life in Jesus and without the fullness of the Holy Spirit, people naturally drift toward self-destructive living. The law acted like a guardrail. It restrained damage. It protected God’s people from wrecking themselves completely.
But the law was never the final destination. Jesus fulfilled the law so His people could move into something greater.
The new life in Christ is not built around external control. It is built around inward transformation by the Spirit of God.
God is in control, but He is not controlling everyone
This is where a needed correction comes in. There is a difference between saying God is in control and saying God is controlling everything and everyone.
God is absolutely in control in the sense that every promise He has spoken will come to pass. Not one word of the Lord will fail. His purposes will stand.
But that is not the same as saying He is behind every evil act on earth. Crime, murder, terrorism, injustice, and wickedness are not made holy just because they happened. God is not the author of evil.
He has given human beings free will. He calls us to make decisions. He teaches us through His Word. He leads and counsels us by His Spirit. He strengthens us to choose rightly. But He does not reduce us to puppets.
That matters because if we believe God is controlling every dark thing, we will end up blaming Him for what He opposes. That is not truth.
Colossians 2:22 says these kinds of rules are tied to things that perish and are rooted in human commands and teachings. The call of God is to come out from under merely human control and live in the freedom Jesus purchased.
Raised with Christ to seek what is above
After describing what we died to, Paul shifts in Colossians 3:1-2 to what we have been raised into:
Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
There are two very different ways to live.
- One life stays under human rules, pressures, and controls.
- The other life has been raised with Christ and learns to aim its desires and thoughts upward.
Notice that Paul does not simply say to think about heaven in a distant, sentimental way. He gets specific. He points to the place where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
That is throne room language.
The invitation is not merely to dream about getting to heaven one day after surviving a miserable life here. The invitation is to set our hearts and minds on the throne room of God now, so that throne room realities begin to shape our lives on earth.
Seven throne room realities
If we are going to set our hearts and minds above, we need to know what is there. Here are seven realities that belong to the throne room of God.
1. Total freedom
In the presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, there is total freedom. Nothing in God’s throne room speaks bondage over His people.
Whatever is happening in earthly circumstances, the declaration from above is freedom. That is part of what it means to live from a higher place.
2. All authority
Jesus declared that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him. All means all.
The authority of Christ is not shared out as if heaven and human power are equals. He reigns. And He gives His people authority in His name.
When we think throne room, we should think government, power, and rule under Jesus Christ.
3. Unending love
The throne room is full of mercy, compassion, and love for all who will receive it. God’s heart toward His people is not cold or reluctant.
When we come near to Him, we do not meet irritation. We meet love that does not run dry.
4. Perfect holiness
This is not a holiness we earn by our own effort. It is a holiness we receive by faith because of what Jesus has done.
If condemnation has been shouting in your mind, remember this: perfect holiness is available in Christ. He makes people clean. He brings people near.
5. Continual celebration
Worship in heaven is not lifeless or restrained. It is joyful, vibrant, and full of celebration. Heaven is not bored with God. Heaven is thrilled with Him.
When God’s people catch even a glimpse of throne room worship, it stirs joy, movement, gratitude, and wholehearted praise. Celebration belongs in the presence of God because He is worthy of it.
6. Complete wholeness
This is the kind of peace described by the biblical idea of shalom. It is more than a calm feeling. It is the ordering of life by God so that all the pieces come together the way they were meant to.
Wholeness means the parts of life begin working in harmony under God’s hand. It is healing, yes, but it is also alignment, order, and beauty.
7. Eternal truth
God’s truth does not bend under pressure. It cannot be diluted, improved, or overruled by human opinion. It is eternal.
That means the throne room is not governed by trends or confusion. It is governed by truth that has always been true and will always remain true.
What happens when we set our minds on these realities
These throne room realities are not abstract ideas to admire from a distance. They are meant to become the focus of our thoughts and desires.
Romans 8 teaches that there is a choice to make. We can set our minds on the flesh, which leads to death, or set our minds on the Spirit, which leads to life and peace.
That means where the mind goes, life follows.
The Holy Spirit is not merely trying to give us occasional comforting feelings. He wants to manifest the realities of God’s throne room in our lives. He wants freedom, authority, love, holiness, celebration, wholeness, and truth to become lived experience among God’s people.
This is where the church is supposed to live.
Three levels of elevation
Colossians 3:3 opens an even deeper picture:
You died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
That verse points to three levels of elevation available in Christ.
1. Heaven
When a person receives Jesus, sins are forgiven, the heart is cleansed, and citizenship in heaven is secured. That is glorious. Heaven is real, and it belongs to those who belong to Christ.
That alone is reason for great gratitude.
2. The throne room
But the invitation does not stop with knowing we are going to heaven someday. In Christ, we are also invited into the place of heavenly authority and presence, the throne room itself.
This is a higher level than simply saying, “I am saved and heaven is waiting for me.” It is the call to begin living from the realities of God’s reign now.
3. In God Himself
Then comes the highest place of all. Paul does not say our life is merely hidden with Christ in heaven. He says our life is hidden with Christ in God.
That is more than a location. That is union with the living God.
The highest goal is not just a place called heaven. It is not even the throne room. The highest goal is living in God Himself.
His heart. His life. His presence. His being.
That is where the journey is meant to lead.
The goal is not a place, but a Person
It is right to thank God for heaven. It is right to hunger for throne room realities. But we are not finished until we move into the deepest reality of all, life in God Himself.
This is what Jesus died to make possible.
On the cross, He carried every sinful and broken thing that stood against us. In Him, our old life died. In Him, we are raised. In Him, we receive righteousness and holiness by faith. And in Him, we are brought all the way into the life of God.
That means the call to higher ground is not for a select few. It belongs to everyone who belongs to Jesus.
The ladder has already been bought
The ladder is not something we build for ourselves. Jesus already paid for it.
He bought the ladder with His own life, death, and resurrection. The invitation is standing. The question is whether we will respond.
Maybe it feels like you are in a pit. Even then, the ladder reaches low enough. It goes into the hole and rises far above it. The issue is not whether the ladder is long enough. The issue is whether we are willing to take the first step.
Even if every step feels difficult, climb anyway.
- Lift one foot and step onto the first rung.
- Then take the next one.
- Keep going higher in God.
Christ is your life
Colossians 3:4 says, When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
That phrase is powerful. Christ is your life.
Money is not your life. Work is not your life. Even the good gifts of family are not your life. Those things matter, but they can fail. They can disappoint.
Jesus will not fail you.
He is your life. And He is the One who brings you into the heart of the Father.
Keep climbing higher
God’s Word is meant to move us upward. He is calling His people out of worldly patterns, out of external control, and into Spirit-led living.
He is calling us to set our hearts and minds on what is above.
He is calling us to seek freedom, authority, love, holiness, celebration, wholeness, and truth from the throne room.
And above all, He is calling us into Himself.
Do not settle for the same spiritual level year after year. Do not make peace with low ground when Jesus has made higher places available.
Climb higher.
Application questions
- Where have I settled for spiritual information without allowing it to produce real elevation in my life?
- What earthly patterns or human controls am I still living under, even though I have died and been raised with Christ?
- Which throne room reality do I most need to set my mind on right now: freedom, authority, love, holiness, celebration, wholeness, or truth?
- Have I treated heaven as the finish line while neglecting the present invitation into the throne room and into the life of God?
- What practical step can I take today to climb higher in my walk with Jesus?
