
Actually there is one more benefit - it forces you to read the Scripture more closely. As you do this, you begin to apply it to your life in ways you never have before or ask questions you never have before.
In the first three verses Paul emphasizes that those who have been hidden in Christ (followers of Christ or little Christs) should be thinking about "things above and not on earthly things." At first glance this seems like an easy thing to do. The problem with this is exactly that: we only glance at it and think we know what to do . . . or what not to do. What does Paul mean here? Are we to turn a blind eye to the world around us and walk around with our head in the spiritual clouds; what does it actually look like to focus on things above?