Article #20 FatherSpiritSon.com
Keys to Success Part III: Mindset for Eternity!
As children of God we should keep an eternal mindset when me make decisions on a day-to-day basis. What I mean by this exactly is we need to put God in the driver’s seat of as much of our lives as possible. He ultimately knows what is the best alternative for us to choose, and we should always be aware of this. Sometimes God will lead us to a place that is out of our comfort zone, and it may not be a walk in the park by any means, but it certainly beats disobeying His plans. In truth some Christians may honestly be blessed with an array of gifts and talents and feel unrivaled fulfillment, satisfaction, and happiness. Certainly we all have our own God-given gifts and talents, but just as certain is the fact that not all of us are 100% happy/satisfied/fulfilled 100% of the time. No matter what your faith, life has periods of ups and downs. You should never expect to convert to Christianity and have all your problems immediately resolved. As a matter of a fact, life may even become more challenging than it was before. Remember, as Christians, we are considered living sacrifices to God. On one hand God wants us to prosper, succeed, and enjoy life. On the other hand God expects us to make sacrifices for His greater glory and deny ourselves what many of us perceive are the pleasures of the world. Would you rather store up for yourself heavenly treasure that lasts for an eternity or would you rather seek out momentary, fleeting desires of this world? For me the answer is crystal clear, but it is not an easy path to follow. I think Paul articulates these difficulties we encounter against the flesh as Christians very well in this excerpt located in Romans 7:15-17. (See V*1)
Allow me to share a story that I heard on my local Christian radio station. This man who was a devout Christian for the majority of his life, who has been married to the same woman for about 21 years, and had several children with her, didn’t feel completely fulfilled with his life. All of a sudden he met a lady who he absolutely clicked with, and according to him he felt satisfaction and fulfillment he had never felt in his many years of marriage. The saddest part of the story is that he was genuinely considering giving up on his marriage and even leaving his children to run off with this lady who he barely knew. I may not have all the details 100% correct or complete, as I just turned on to catch this glimpse of the story, but even assuming this story was hypothetical, I know that situations like this happen quite frequently in our world. The most interesting aspect of the story however was what the speaker had to say about it after he shared this information. He essentially said that it is better to be in line with God’s will and be suffering in a desert, than be serving the fleshly, selfish, or evil desires of our own selves. I think what it boils down to is this: we each need to decide whether we will live for the thrill of instant gratification and selfishness, which fades away nearly as quickly as it comes and surely leads to a steady decay of spirit and a dead-end of insatiable desires, or we can serve the King of Kings and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. Certainly the choice is clear, especially when you consider the consequences carefully. Either way you, I, and everyone else in this world will at one point or another be submitting to the authority of Jesus Christ and affirm with our lips that He is Lord. It is up to us whether or not we do that willingly in humility and humbleness and share eternity in paradise with Him according to His plan for us or suffer through the alternative, which is eternal separation from God in hell. (See V*2) Remember that even though this set of verses in Philippians may seem contrary to God allowing us free will at first glance, the reality of the matter is God is the ultimate authority and deserves all our praise, honor, glory, and acknowledgment to be directed to Him. He doesn’t need to coerce us to praise Him, he allows us to choose to do so of our own free will, but in the grand scheme of things this will indeed happen.
One more aspect of the eternity mindset that I would like to touch in before closing is the power of the Devil. Certainly he is our ultimate adversary as Christians, but we need not be afraid of Him. Many of us tend to give him far too much credit, and in turn end up succumbing to sinful behavior. The truth is God is with His children at all times, and we can rest assured that the Devil is only as capable as God allows him to be. Let me reiterate that, the Devil cannot do anything to harm us to an extent that God doesn’t allow. God never tempts us, but from time to time I believe He does test us in order for us to grow in character and expand our faith. God knows exactly what we are capable of handling, and will not give you a test that is impossible for you. God may allow the Devil to tempt us for a period, but if we boldly resist the temptation and submit to God’s providence the Devil will ultimately flee away from us. (See V*3) Satan attacks us from time to time, but this doesn’t mean we need to fall for his schemes. Within the traps of the Devil he may try to make us feel that the next 10 years of our short life-span here on Earth may be better spent feeding the flesh and delighting in evil, and furthermore he makes us believe that eternity is not really that long of a time. As Christians we need to be well aware that eternity is forever, and the decisions that we make in our short time here on earth basically echo out throughout that infinite period of time. With that said, I think we need to live each day to the fullest extent possible. We need to be prepared because at any time the rapture may occur, or we may lose our lives in one way or another. Remember this life is only temporary and none of us has the slightest idea when it will be our time to go. This is why we need to live with this eternal mindset I am speaking of, and make sure that we invest in eternity accordingly.
With that said, I suggest the following to my fellow Christians: Try not to judge others too harshly, try to invest of your time, energy, and skills to serving those less fortunate, try sharing God’s word with others who haven’t heard it, try to live without any regrets of “what you could’ve done when you had the chance.” The time is now, today is our day to take a stand. Have faith, God’s timing is perfect and by His mercy if you are reading this you still have an opportunity to accomplish the will of God! What an honor! Seize this chance to turn back to God or even draw closer to Him. I am confident that He is pulling at your heart to do so. (See V*4)
I hope you all enjoyed this article, and found it as thought provoking as it was for me as I reflected on it myself while writing. I will keep you all, as always, in prayer. God bless.
- Victor Nunez
V*1- For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. - Romans 7:15-17 (HCSB)
V*2- For this reason God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow- of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth – 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 (HCSB)
V*3- Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 (HCSB)
V*4- I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God because they will return to Me with all their heart. Jeremiah 24:7 (HCSB)
Recommended further reading & Links:
Romans 7 in it's entirety (V*1 related)
http://www.tentmaker.org/FAQ/ForceOrFreeWill.html> (V*2 related)
http://www.putonthearmoroflight.com/2009/02/resist-devil-and-he-will-flee-from-you.html (V*3 related)