| 30 Jan 2015 |
| FOCUS ON WHAT IS 'ABOVE' |
| 'Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.' Colossians 3:2 |
| Today
we're big on the concept of instant gratification and acquiring more
stuff. But 'earthly things' lose their appeal once the bill arrives and
the interest on your credit cards starts piling up. When that happens,
blessings can turn into curses and rob you of the joy of living. One
pastor says: 'Materialism doesn't satisfy because it's tyrannical, and
human beings were born to be free... We find we don't own the house--the
house owns us. We're married to a mortgage. We become slaves to gadgets
and garments. After they're purchased, delivered and installed, we
enjoy a fleeting sense of pleasure, but they still dominate, dictate and
demand, "Press me, polish me, patch me, paint me, prune me, plaster
me!" We spend our best years and the bulk of our money working for
"things" until... we've no time left to pursue life's really enjoyable
vocations: visiting friends, having fun, and going to church... no time
to do good deeds, see places, or visit the people who give us the
greatest inner joy. Paul says, "Godliness with contentment is great
gain" (1 Timothy 6:6 NIV). And to experience that contentment you need
to count your blessings every day and thank the One who made them all
possible.' Jon Walker writes: 'Assume there's an imaginary line dividing
what you can see from what you can't see--the temporal from the
eternal. Our objective in Jesus is to look upon the things "above", so
we can understand that what we see and feel is not a full and accurate
measurement of God's reality... people are eternal beings, and decisions
that seem insignificant now, when seen in the fullness of reality, are
of eternal significance.' |
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