Tag: Faithful

Being Heavenly Minded

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Matthew 6: 19 – 21

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6: 30

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

Matthew 6: 33

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

A dear friend reminds me often that if God calls her home, I should be ready to pick up the mantle. Until I met her, heaven, eternity, and rapture were on the back of my mind. I knew and understood that heaven is my eternal home but I was caught up with the things of the world. I am so blessed to have crossed paths with this saint who is heavenly minded in all her dealings. She is joyfully ready to enter into eternity. Her faith, her readiness and her heavenly mind inspired me to shift my focus as well.

Jesus, in the sermon on the mount, spoke of storing up treasures in heaven. His listeners must’ve wondered how they could store treasures in heaven, when they haven’t even been there. Jesus spoke extensively about the Kingdom of God. John baptized people and asked them to ‘repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand’ (Matthew 3: 2). Jesus desired that His people who believe in Him would be with Him for all eternity. In other words, He urged the people to not be in pursuit of the worldly fame and fortune, which will be destroyed. Rather pursue holiness which will be accounted as righteousness.

Furthermore, He mentioned that we will be clothed. If a lily of the field can be a beautiful blossom one day and is withered the following day, then how much more our Savior who redeemed us with His precious blood is willing to give us robes of righteousness? Our Savior who has ascended into heaven to prepare a place for us will come back to receive us unto Himself. Where He is, there we will be also for all eternity. We are not only clothed in robes of righteousness but we also will receive new and glorified bodies.

Dear Heavenly Minded Saint, what then is our task? To live our lives for Him. With our minds, hearts and eyes fixed on heaven, we must carry out our earthly responsibilities with due diligence. Let us not focus on earning wealth. Instead, let us focus on earning souls for the Kingdom of heaven. Let us not seek worldly fame, which vanishes like a mist. Instead let us focus on how our lives can be salt and light in this dark world. We must continue the good fight of faith as Paul instructs Timothy, holding onto eternal life. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1 Timothy 6: 12). Our task on this earth, in these clay tabernacles is to be rich in good works, to be generous, kind, and merciful which then equates to storing up treasures in heaven. When our whole being is desirous of being heaven bound, then nothing in this world can tie us down.

Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed (1 Timothy 6: 18 – 19).

The heritage you inherit is not nearly as important as the legacy you leave. The legacy you leave is not nearly as important as the eternity you enter.

At the Crossroads

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Job 23: 8 – 14

“Behold, I go forward but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns to the right, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than any necessary food. But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such decrees are with Him.

Job found himself at the crossroads of life. Until now he thought he was right in the sight of God. He diligently followed the Lord, ensuring there was no sin in him and in his family, and offering sacrifices just in case he or one of his family members sinned in their thoughts. And yet, he found himself in a quagmire from which there seems to be no way out. He recollected if there was something in his past that could have brought about these trials in his life but to his dismay there was nothing. He was willing to seek the Lord’s forgiveness for any sin in his life but God brought nothing against him. His companions reasoning also brought to naught. Job was desperate to know why God allowed such hardships.

Job knew His God. He knew the commandments of the Lord. He knew what displeased Him and what brought pleasure. And yet he found that He could not perceive his God whichever way he turned. Many of us go through life knowing that we are on the right side of God. Diligently obeying His commands, living a righteous life, busy about God’s Kingdom and yet we find ourselves at life’s crossroads. We try to analyze what went wrong and start blaming God for all the wrong going in our lives.

While bemoaning his situation, Job was confident that his God knew which direction he was headed and confessed confidently that God will bring him out as pure gold after testing him. Job was not only confident of his own faith in God but also in God’s faithfulness towards him. He was confident that no matter what situation he was going through, God will direct his paths. Furthermore, he was confident that God will fulfill every promise. Such was Job’s faith in God.

Many of us go through situations where our faith is tested. We first try to reason just like Job if God has turned against us. Then we try to see if there was some unconfessed sin in our lives that is causing the trouble. We seek again Lord’s forgiveness even though He has already forgiven and forgotten. We remind God of our past sins when He has already forgotten. Still when our situation doesn’t improve, we come to terms that it is a trial that God is allowing and we should face that challenge with boldness. In all this, we have focused on ourselves more than focusing on God. ‘What did I do?’ ‘Why did it happen to me?’ ‘What should I do?’ ‘I did everything right.’

Maybe it is time we shift our focus from ourselves, our situations and focus on Him. Just as Job realized that God has the prerogative to do with us what He wants, we too must realize that we are His creation. Our Creator has every right to do what He pleases with us. The clay has no right to question the Potter. We are in His safe hands. The Master has the authority to fashion us according to His purposes. We just must trust Him.

Let us then abandon our confusion at the crossroads. Let us return to Him who is sovereign over everything. Let us harken to the words of Jesus: “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in Him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15: 5) Let us enter in to His rest and allow Him to become the true joy of our lives. When we are confident in Him who is able, then no storm, no trial, no disease, no mountain, etc., can shake us. His confidence becomes ours. God was confident of Job’s faithfulness and knew that he will come out as gold. That is why God boasted about Job’s faith before Satan even before his trials started. Dearly beloved, let us become confident of His faithfulness. No matter the depths of our anguish, our Lord will carry us through. Such is His love for us!