Tag: Jesus Christ

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.

When Morality Isn’t Enough

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Matthew 19: 16-22

16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

18 He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept [g]from my youth. What do I still lack?”

21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

This young man was sincere in his heart when he approached Jesus with such a genuine question. When he informed Jesus that he was morally an upright man by keeping all of the God’s commands from a very young age, he sure expected Jesus to applaud him for his efforts. His plight begs the question: why isn’t being a moral idealist just enough? He indeed felt that he was still lacking something despite his obedience to the moral law. His emptiness is what drove him to ask Jesus this question.

Great thinkers, philosophers, scientists have all asked this question. In their quest to find the answer, they have experimented with various behaviors, reasonings, philosophies, etc., only to come to nought. Those that found their answer in the Bible, found the ‘ideal’ they were searching. Those that didn’t find their answer were lost or confused. Every other religion or ‘ism’ strives to answer that question but still come up wanting. Only in Christ can be found the ‘ideal’ that we have been searching for.

Being morally upright is beneficial not only to people around the person but to self as well. There is no guilt or condemnation because in the person’s heart, they know that they didn’t hurt their neighbor and they have been pure in their own thoughts and actions. However, the gnawing on the spirit arises when the morally upright person is considering their relationship with their Creator, when they try to figure out what their purpose is on this earth.

C. S. Lewis in his book ‘Mere Christianity’ explains at length about morality: “Some people prefer to talk about moral ‘ideals’ rather than moral rules and about moral ‘idealism’ rather than moral obedience. Now it is, of course true that moral perfection is an ‘ideal’ in the sense that we cannot achieve it. In that sense every kind of perfection is, for us humans, an ideal… but there is another sense in which it is very misleading to call moral perfection an ideal… But it is dangerous to describe a man who tries very hard to keep the moral law as a ‘man of high ideals’, … It might lead you to become a prig and to think you were rather a special person who deserved to be congratulated on his ‘idealism’.”

He further explains using an analogy of a musical band. “Morality, then, seems to be concerned with three things. Firstly, with fair play and harmony between individuals. Secondly, with what might be called tidying up or harmonizing the things inside each individual. Thirdly, with the general purpose of human life as a whole: what man was made for: what course the whole fleet ought to be on: what tune the conductor of the band wants it to play.”

Is our moral living harmonious with fellow saints and in tune with God’s purposes? Striving for morality is good. However, it is not the end of it all. Our moral uprightness is not the way to eternity but Christ alone. How in tune are we with God’s will? How is the Master Conductor conducting our lives for His glory? Are we obedient to this Ideal Master? Or are we seeking our own path and falling out of sync, only to end up frustrated like the young man in Matthew 19? He was asked to give up one thing that was dear to him and follow Jesus. Alas! he couldn’t part with it and obey God’s call. Is God asking us to obey His call and are we finding excuses to achieve moral idealism in our own way?

Dear Saint of God, let us continue to strive to have high moral standards as prescribed by our Heavenly Father. However, let us not lose sight of our ‘Ideal’ – Jesus Christ, who actually showed us how to live. Live a life of moral uprightness, live in harmony with others, but above all, live in obedience to God’s call, living out His purposes, all for His glory. May God help you as you strive for that kind of ‘idealism’.

Reference:

Lewis. C.S. “Mere Christianity”. Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1952.