Light from above, bright sun, blue sky and clouds
On Sunday, Dad spoke about having an eternal perspective. Being mindful of the Spirit, mindful of eternity rather than being earthly minded and focused on the here and now. The truth is, it takes discipline to keep our thoughts on what is above and not on what is beneath (Col 3:1-4) Once we make it a habit, of course it becomes easier, just like anything else. You discipline yourself to wake up every morning and do some light stretching, soon, you don’t think twice about it… you just do it. It’s normal. That’s where we need to get with keeping our minds on Christ. Where it’s a habit. Changing our perspective from what is important to achieve success and happiness on the Earth; to, what is important to gain access to an Eternal life in Heaven and not hell. Matt 6:19-21 says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth or rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
We tend to want to build our own little kingdoms here on earth
This Earth is not our home, it is fleeting and will pass away. The more we ignore the fact that there is an eternal life (heaven or hell), the easier it becomes to fulfill the lust of the flesh and gather for ourselves treasures here on earth. We tend to want to build our own little kingdoms to enjoy here on earth.
But the truth is that the day of the lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Everything earthly thing we work for in life, will burn away. Every thing we hold dear will be dissolved. Scripture goes on to say, Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. (2 Peter 3:10-13)
In this scripture, greater importance is placed upon work that is done to affect Eternal lives –ours, and others around us. That scripture said we ought to be doing 3 things.
We ought to
1 be living a life that is going to please our Father in heaven and as a result we will become a light to all we encounter.
2 Keeping our thoughts (looking forward) onto His glorious coming, eyes, ears, and thoughts awaiting His arrival.
3 Work towards speeding it’s coming, by telling the world about Jesus and give them all an opportunity to hear of His gospel.
Looking forward to His coming
The second one: Looking forward to His arrival.. Think about when your waiting on someone important to arrive. Generally, you have prepared yourself and everything needed for this meeting. Your just looking, waiting for the attendee. Oh, I heard something *looks out the window* was that them? No, okay let me see is there anything else I need to do… prepare a little more, clean a little more, fix myself up a little more.. Looking, listening for a sign of their coming…
That’s what we should be doing as Christians.
Misplaced value
We tend to put misplaced value on things in our lives rather than looking forward to His coming. And by doing this our eyes naturally come off of the Eternal, spiritual realm and onto the Earthly one. When we do all three of these things, listed above. (for time I will not go into each one, but we should all take a moment to really ponder each one!!) When we life our lives as God intends we will become a light to those around us. We will tell them and share with them the good news of Christ as He intended.
Having an Eternal Perspective
Having an eternal perspective can change the way we life our lives. It will make us hold our relationships with greater importance and as a result, treat them better and actually be the light we were called to be. We began with Matt 6:19-20 but to finish up, let’s read verse 21 it says, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. To help us keep an eternal perspective, we need to make Eternal life with Christ and the word of God our treasure and then He will become apart of our hearts and everything we do will be out of a result of the eternal life in our hearts. AMEN!
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