We are a people who seek first the Kingdom of God. That means when treated badly, we turn the other cheek. We love and pray for our enemies returning good for evil. When taken advantage of, we go the extra mile, offer a coat when our shirt has been fraudulently taken, and give to those who ask. Though we fail, though it seems impossible, we long and strive to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect.
Our minds are set on things above not on things on the earth so that we count all things but loss if only we could somehow know the Son of God, the one chosen to be the King of Kings. When we see a Christian’s death, we think he is merely sleeping, he is exchanging his shack for a sturdy and glorious mansion, he has received a bonus, and therefore, we cannot mourn like others. In fact, we actually would rather die to be with Christ because that is far better, but as long as we can help Christians here on the earth, we are willing to go on living.
Our earthly ambitions could be summarized as laying up treasures in Heaven, not on earth. Everything to us is religious so that we cannot even drink Pepsi without doing it to the glory of God. When we see a marriage we think of Christ’s love for sinners. When we see a child, we think of being born again and the humility that it requires. We see Christ constantly, whenever we look at a door, or bread, or a road, or a flower, or a tree with branches, or a son, or the sun. When we rest, we think that He is the rest for the people of God. When we wake, we think that He is our life and resurrection. When we read books or poems, we are amazed that He is the Word and the Truth. We see Him everywhere and in every mark of beauty because He is all and in all and by Him all things hold together. We wistfully cry after Him in every absence of goodness in a politician, dishonesty in business, and injustice on earth.
When we pray, we ask for things other religions do not ask for, things like, the eyes of our hearts to be opened so that we would see the hope of our calling, the riches of our glorious inheritance, and the shocking power of God. We pray that our inner man would be strong and healthy, that the Son of God would dwell in our hearts, that we would comprehend incomprehensible love, and that we would be filled up with divine fullness. We pray that all men would be saved, and that when believers speak, the Word of God would run. Our prayers are much more commonly spiritual than physical because our Lord taught us to pray that we would not enter into temptation, that our faith would not fail, that missionaries would be sent out, that the Holy Spirit would come, and then to rejoice only that our names were written in the book of life.
We know that a real man marks his stature by the fullness of Christ when he speaks the truth in love, when he bears the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. We are very happy when we are poor in spirit, weeping for our sin, hungry for holiness, thirsty after more obedience, and actively working to stop fighting and tensions. The only way we can be happier is if we are maligned, rejected, or attacked for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ for whom we are willing to lose all things.
And we expect to enter the Kingdom through many hardships. We know that every godly person will suffer. We think that suffering is a light and brief problem that actually brings about amazing and glorious benefits that are very real even though they are unseen. We are ready to endure any evil if by so doing, God’s chosen ones will come to faith. We believe our lives are simply passing mists, and if all humanity were gathered together it would only amount to dust on the eternal scales. When we reflect on our service to God, we say we are unprofitable slaves having barely done our basic duties. As we draw nearer to God, so we speak worse of ourselves as the least of all the saints, then the least of all the sinners. We strive to hate and deny ourselves so that it might be said, we do not live, but Christ lives in us. We confess our sins to God and to each other because we call ourselves wretched men.
The Second Coming of Jesus occupies our minds very much because we are eagerly waiting for Him. Our watching for His return keeps us from sin. We believe He is coming soon, and we call it our happy or blessed hope.
We love the promises of the OT prophets that the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. He will rule from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth. All kings will bow down before Him, and all the Gentile nations will serve Him. Missions and evangelism will be obsolete activities because all men will know Him. We love to think that in that day, wars will have ended since men will beat their swords into plows. And it is constantly in our minds that in this final day, Jehovah will shake the earth terribly and then He alone will be exalted.
Our minds are at peace because they are set on the things of the Spirit. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.
Excellent! Thanks for this.