Colossians 3:1–4: Seek Things Above
Short answer: Colossians 3:1–4 does not address boycotts of any company, Starbucks included. It says that those raised with Christ should seek and set their minds on things above, where Christ is seated at God's right hand, because their life is hidden with him. That commands a reorientation of desire and attention, not a list of approved or forbidden purchases. The passage leaves the coffee decision to wisdom shaped by that loyalty, and it warns against treating self-imposed rules as though they had real value.
Where the warning ends and the commands begin
Colossians is a letter, not a collection of sayings, and this paragraph sits at a hinge inside it. Just before, Paul has been correcting religious rules that look impressive but cannot restrain the flesh; he calls them human precepts that perish with use. Now the correction turns into exhortation. The shape matters: statements about what God has done come first, then commands rest on them. The opening word "If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God." carries the sense of "since," so the readers are not being asked to earn a standing they lack but to live out of one they already have.
The commands are addressed to a whole congregation, not to isolated seekers. Paul writes to a church he did not plant, made up largely of Gentiles who faced pressure from two directions at once: rule-based religion on one side and moral looseness on the other. The warning about self-made restrictions sets a limit, but it does not cancel moral demand. The very next verses tell them to put to death what is earthly in them. So the balance is plain. Earthly regulations are not the engine of holiness, and real change in the body is still required.
Notice the movement of the sentences. First comes a command about attention, then a reason drawn from their identity, then a forward look to Christ's appearing. Paul does not begin with a list of prohibited purchases or practices. He begins with where the mind is pointed. That order matters for any discussion of boycotts or abstentions: the text commands heavenly attention, not a commercial rule, and it gives no grounds for shaming a believer who buys a coffee or one who declines. The passage is a call to holiness rooted in union with Christ, not a test of consumer choices.
Raised with Christ, so seek what is above
Paul begins with a status, not a command: the Colossians were raised together with Christ. Before he tells them to do anything, he tells them what is already true of them. Then come two verbs of deliberate attention. To seek is to pursue; to set your mind is to decide what occupies your thoughts. Both are present tense, ongoing habits rather than one-time decisions. The text also defines its own key phrase. The things that are above are not a vague spiritual mood; they are where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Seeking heavenly things means orienting life around the reign and honor of the risen Christ.
The reason given is striking in its simplicity: you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Hidden is the right word for a life that is real and secure but not yet visible to anyone watching. Paul does not tell the Colossians to make their lives impressive; he tells them their lives are already tucked away with Christ in God. That is why the commands in 3:1–2 are not a ladder to climb but a response to a position already given. Verse 4 then turns the corner toward the future: when Christ, our life, is revealed, they will be revealed with him in glory. The full visibility is still ahead.
Notice what this passage does not do. It does not command a commercial rule, and it does not tell believers to police one another's shopping. It commands attention: pursue what belongs to Christ's reign, and let your thoughts be occupied with where he is seated. A boycott may be a personal wisdom decision, but it cannot be smuggled into 3:1–2 as a command, and abstaining or participating should not become a test of another believer's devotion. The central thing stays central: you have died, your life is hidden with Christ in God, and your future is bound up with his appearing.
What Colossians 3:1-4 actually commands
Paul has just finished warning the Colossian believers about rules that look impressive but cannot restrain the flesh. He calls them precepts and doctrines of men that perish with use (2:22), and he says of such self-imposed worship that it is of no value against the indulgence of the flesh (2:23). That warning sets a boundary here. No humanly devised restriction, including a commercial boycott, carries the moral weight of a divine command. Paul then pivots with "If then you were raised together with Christ." The exhortation rests on something already true of them, not on a new rule they must earn.
The commands themselves are about direction, not withdrawal. Believers are told to seek the things above, where Christ is seated at God's right hand, and to set their minds there rather than on earthly things (3:1–2). The reason given is identity: you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (3:3). Notice that Paul does not say to ignore earthly life. He locates its center elsewhere. A Christian deciding where to buy coffee is still making an earthly decision, but it is now judged by a loyalty that outranks consumer habits, brand politics, and the opinions of fellow believers on either side.
The passage does not end in detachment. Paul immediately tells the same readers to put to death what is earthly in them, naming sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which he calls idolatry (3:5). Real holiness is still required, and it is holiness of the body, not merely of the shopping list. This balance matters: rules cannot produce change, yet change is commanded. So neither boycotting nor buying should become a badge of spiritual maturity. The text gives no rule about a coffee company. It gives a governing loyalty, and it leaves room for believers to differ without shame.
Where readers differ on heavenly-mindedness and boycotts
Paul has just finished describing rules that look impressive but cannot restrain the flesh (2:22–23). Then he turns to the risen Christ and says, in effect, that since you were raised with him, aim your attention where he is. Notice what the command actually covers: seeking and setting the mind. It does not name a product, a company, or a purchase. Some careful readers take this as a mandate for every economic choice, reasoning that heavenly-mindedness should shape where money goes. Others read the same verses as a warning against exactly the kind of self-made rule-keeping Paul just criticized. Both sides want to honor the text. The text itself commands attention and desire, not a list of approved or forbidden businesses.
A second disagreement concerns whether earthly concerns matter at all. Some read 3:1–4 as teaching that ordinary life is simply unimportant, so heavenly-mindedness means detachment. But the very next verses tell believers to put to death what is earthly in them (3:5), which assumes earthly conduct matters greatly. The passage does not say that abstaining from a product is wrong, nor that it is required. It also does not promise that any commercial decision will produce spiritual safety or relief. What it does say is that Christ is the believer's life, hidden with him in God, and that this reality is the ground for everything else.
What stays central across these differences is that Christ reigns and his people's life is hidden with him. Paul does not settle the boycott question here, and readers who press the text into a rule for or against a company are going beyond what it says. A believer who participates in a boycott and one who does not can both be seeking things above. This passage should not be used to shame either one. The question it presses is narrower and deeper: where is your attention fixed, and does the reign of Christ, rather than any company, hold first place in your thinking?
Where your life is actually hidden
Paul has just finished describing rules that look impressive but cannot restrain the flesh (2:22–23). Then he turns from the argument to the people: if you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at God's right hand (3:1). Notice that the command rests on something already true of them. He does not say seek heavenly things so that you might be raised. He says you were raised, therefore seek. The location of Christ governs the location of their attention. A boycott decision, whether to shop or abstain, is not the axis here. The axis is where Christ is, and therefore where their minds belong.
The second verse sharpens the first: set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth (3:2). This is not a command to despise ordinary life or to police other people's shopping. Paul gives a reason in 3:3: you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. That is a statement about their standing, not their performance. Their life is not stored in a pantry, a receipt, or a boycott list. It is hidden, presently and securely, in Christ. Nothing in this passage asks a believer to prove sincerity by commercial severity. The severity Paul already critiqued had no value against fleshly indulgence (2:23).
Then the horizon opens: when Christ, our life, is revealed, you also will be revealed with him in glory (3:4). The gospel is assumed throughout rather than argued. They died with him, they were raised with him, and their future is bound to his appearing. That means the security named here is Christ's work and Christ's return, not a purchasing choice in either direction. So do not use this text to shame the person who joins a boycott or the person who skips it. Both need the same thing: a mind fixed on the One who is seated above and who will be revealed. Let the passage do its own work, and it will do enough.
What faithful response looks like in ordinary life
Start where the text starts, not with the shopping decision. Paul has just finished describing rules that look impressive but cannot restrain the flesh (2:22–23), and then he turns to the ground of everything: you were raised with Christ, you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (3:1–3). That is a standing no purchase can raise and no boycott can protect. If your sense of being right with God rises when you walk past a coffee shop and falls when you walk in, the thing holding you up is not grace. It is a rule of your own making.
The commands here are about direction, not merchandise. Seek the things above, where Christ is seated; set your mind there, not on the things on the earth (3:1–2). Those two verbs are the actual imperatives, and they ask a searchlight question of any consumer choice: what am I seeking, and what has my attention? A believer may abstain from a company out of real conscience before God, and another may buy there without sin. Neither choice is a mark of superior spirituality, and neither should be used to bind a conscience Scripture has not bound. Name the motive honestly, then act before God rather than before an audience.
Grace is the ground of any obedience here, and the passage promises no particular outcome for any purchase or protest. What it does promise is that Christ, our life, will be revealed, and then his people will be revealed with him in glory (3:4). That future steadies ordinary life now. So do not shame the brother who buys or the sister who abstains. Put to death what the text actually names, and let a boycott stay a small decision held loosely, not the thing your hope rests on. Your life is hidden with Christ, and that is where it stays.
Biblical fidelity check
Read carefully, Colossians 3:1–4 is easy to overrun. The verbs "seek" and "set your mind on" command deliberate attention, and the text itself defines the target: where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. That is Christ's reign and honor, not a mood or a list of approved purchases. The risks are real: treating "things above" as a slogan for consumer choices, or reading "you died" as though earthly conduct stopped mattering, when 3:5 immediately commands putting sin to death. The passage gives no inventory of forbidden or required businesses.
The genuine disagreement is how far heavenly-mindedness should govern economic choices. Some believers see a boycott as a faithful application; others see it as a distraction, or as the very human regulations Paul warns against in 2:22–23. The text sets the limit: it commands attention and desire, and says nothing about abstaining from a product being wrong or required. What stays central is that Christ is the believer's life, hidden and secure now, revealed in glory later, and that his reign, not any company, holds first place.
Where Colossians 3:1-4 connects to the rest of Scripture
For further study, compare the warning about self-imposed religion in Colossians 2:22–23 with the call to put to death earthly desires in Colossians 3:5–6, then trace how the New Testament treats matters of conscience in Christian Prom: How to Attend to the Glory of God, the limits of Christian freedom in Halal Food and Christian Freedom: What 1 Cor 8 Says, and the way love governs disputed practices in Galatians 2:11-16: What Legalism Really Is and Card Games and 1 Corinthians 10:31: Playing to God's Glory.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Bible forbid Christians from buying from companies whose policies they disagree with?
This passage does not address buying from companies at all, so it neither forbids nor permits it. Colossians 3:1–4 turns from human rules to the risen Christ and tells believers to seek what is above, because their life is hidden with him. The surrounding verses name sins of the heart and body, not commercial choices. A Christian's spending is a matter of conscience and wisdom, not a rule this text settles.
How is setting my mind on things above different from just ignoring my earthly problems?
Setting your mind above is not ignoring earthly problems, because Paul grounds it in something already true: you were raised with Christ, and your life is hidden with him in God (Colossians 3:1–4). The command in 3:2 looks toward where Christ is seated, so it reorders what you love and fear while you still face real trouble. Ignoring problems avoids them; this fixes your attention on Christ's present reign and promised revealing, which then shapes how you handle what is on the earth.
Does refusing to buy from certain companies or brands amount to the self-made religion Paul warns against in Colossians 2?
No, a boycott is not the self-imposed religion Paul warns about, because Paul's target in 2:22–23 is religious rules treated as spiritual power, and Colossians 3:1–4 turns the reader instead toward seeking what is above. Paul does not address purchasing decisions here, so this passage neither commands nor forbids boycotts. What it does say is that your life is hidden with Christ in God, so no buying choice earns standing before God. A boycott may be wisdom, but it cannot be a badge of spiritual maturity.
