It is the end of the day and you are tired. You rest for a few minutes. Your mind wanders and you realize you are thinking mostly about food and buying a new car. You haven’t really thought about your connection to God. It would be good to get alone and pray for five minutes but that means making a little sacrifice. Do you go to pray…?
The riches of the world are nothing compared to riches of heaven. If we have a moderate share of worldly things then we have enough wealth. Any more than that produces materialism and anxiety. As we develop a heavenly mindset we see how twisted people become as they fall in love with the riches of the world. Even all the necessities of life – eating, drinking, working, finding shelter – are a burden compared to the joy and lightness of our future to come.
Consider the examples of Jesus, his apostles, and the great Christians of the past. Consider how they did not acquire wealth on earth but acquired spiritual wealth that truly satisfies the heart. Consider how their wealth will last for eternity, (Matt. 6:19-20). They embraced the teaching to: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things,” Col. 3:2 (NIV).
As we develop a heavenly mindset we see how twisted people become as they fall in love with the riches of the world.
This encourages us to persevere in our discipleship journey to Christlikeness. Now is the time to give our attention to the riches of transformation God desires to give to us. Now is the time to invest in prayer and scripture together. Our future spiritual profit will be spectacular. The pain and discipline that we endure in Christformation is so much better than the misery and emptiness of chasing worldly treasure. We will have pain either way because that is our inheritance from Adam’s fall. But the pain of following Jesus brings joy; the pain of the world brings despair.
Consider how active we must be in order to defeat our destructive desires. We want to be rid of our sins, and we confess our sins and set our mind on not repeating them. But often we do repeat them. Why is this? Because our flesh wars against our spirit and slows our spiritual growth. Thus, we do not slack off but rather continue in our spiritual disciplines. If we do not see spiritual growth then we reexamine our life. But when we do see growth we rejoice and walk in peace, for we are acquiring “treasure in heaven,” and the biggest treasure is our friendship with God.
May you continue to grow in discipleship!
This post is partly based on Chapter 22 of the classic The Imitation of Christ.
