Lifestlye
Are Our Affections On Things Above?
It is possible to determine a person’s true character by finding out what he or she really loves and what his or her goals are. Ask yourself these questions:
- What are the three things you are most earnestly working for right now?
- What are the three things you love the most?
- What are the three things you think about the most?
- This is essentially the same method used by Jesus to determine a person’s true character. Matt. 6:19-21. The heart is the seat of the emotions and it determines how and what we think (Prov. 23:7) -- "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:"
If you will be honest with yourself, you will probably find that, for
the most part, your affections, as revealed by your thoughts, are more
focused on the things of this world than on the things of God.
A GREAT DEMAND
-
Why is it so difficult for Christians to set their minds and
affections on eternal things? That is to say, why is it so hard for
God’s people to be "heavenly-minded" people while here on earth?
- Some might answer, "Because of our sin nature." Certainly there is some truth in that.
-
Christians do have two sets of desires that are warring against one
another -- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit. Paul
spoke of this conflict in Gal. 5:16-17, Rom. 7:21-23.
- But our difficulty in focusing on eternal values cannot be completely blamed on our sin nature.
-
The fact is that God has placed Christians in a difficult (though not
impossible) situation. He asks Christians to be citizens of two worlds.
- In fact, this is such a difficult predicament that it merited a special prayer by Jesus on our behalf: Jn. 17:14-18
So how can a Christian be heavenly-minded, and yet give the proper attention to our responsibilities here on earth?
1.
According to our text, to be heavenly-minded means to conform our
everyday desires, attitudes, and actions to the image of Christ.
2.
In other words, being heavenly-minded simply means loving what Jesus
loves, thinking like Jesus thinks, and viewing everything in our daily
life from His heavenly perspective.
- We read the Bible or listen to the preaching and the Holy Spirit convicts our heart of some sin in our life.
- We determine that we are going to fix that.
- So we make a mental judgment to eliminate "this and that" from our life
and we may even go so far as to replace it with something more godly.
- We pray for strength and announce our decision and commitment to God.
- Then we go home and try our best to live up to our commitment. However,
most of the time we find that, no matter how determined we are, we are
still subject to the sins and pleasures of this world.
- So we fail. Our failure brings frustration which often leads us to
believe that since we can’t live the kind of godly life that we want,
there is really no use in trying.
- But
then we read our Bible or listen to the preaching and the Holy Spirit
convicts our heart and the whole thing starts over again.
CONCLUSION:
This kind of dramatic change is not only possible but it is commanded by God and prompted by the Holy Spirit.
But it all must start with a choice on your part. You must choose to desire most the things of God. You will not be able to make this choice until first you decide to divorce yourself from being fleshly-minded. You can take the first step right now by asking God to make His desires your desires.
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