CHAPTER 14: Be Eternally Minded

c HAP t E r 14

BE ETERNALLY MINDED

“Don’t let your heart envy sinners but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. For there is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” Proverbs 23:17-18

The command sounds easier said than done “Do not let your heart envy sinners.” Some people will read this and think “But how can I obey that? How can I control what I feel?” Controlling your emotions is a foreign concept to many people in today’s society. Jesus said it can be done. In fact, He told us to do it when he said “Don’t let your heart be troubled” (John 14:1). It can be difficult when our society, and especially Hollywood, constantly feeds us stories that celebrate the person who follows their emotions instead of their commitments or the rules. Over and over the story is shown us of a protagonist who follows their feelings, or as Hollywood often calls it their heart, and it eventually leads them to happily ever after. Our society promotes the idea that to find out who you really are, just listen to your emotions. The ridiculousness of the world’s approach is obvious when society tells a man “if you feel like a woman you must be one.” That is insane. If I am a man it doesn’t matter if I feel like woman, or a squirrel, I am still a man. God, in stark contrast with today’s culture says “If you want to know who I made you to be, ask

Me. I have put in detail who you are and what you need to be fulfilled right there in the Bible.”

When culture and the Bible disagree you need to decide right now, if you haven’t already who you are going to believe. Your emotions are not an uncontrollable force to which you are enslaved. The main thing that shapes your emotions are your thoughts. I believe on some level we all realize Your emotions are not an that. Our emotions will always move in the uncontrollable force to direction of our dominant thought. If we just which you are enslaved. allow any thought at any time to enter our mind our emotions will follow those thoughts. It will feel very much like our emotions were random and out of control. But the Bible tells us we are to be careful about what we think on. Philippians 4:8 says “What so ever things are pure, what so ever things are just, what so ever things are of a good report, think on these things.”

Elijah the Tishbite was a prophet of God. First, he prophesies that there will be no rain until he says so, and immediately there is a drought. During that time God feeds him miraculously by a raven that brings him bread and meat everyday twice a day. Then, God sends him to a widow’s home where in a continuous miracle God causes their tiny supply of oil and flour to always replenish. After that, he goes to Mount Carmel where in the presence of witnesses he calls fire down from heaven that consumes the offering. He kills 450 prophets of Baal. He climbs to a mountain top and prays that rain would come and end the three and a half year drought. As the rain approaches, he tells the king to race 18 miles home in his horse drawn chariot. God’s spirit comes on Elijah and he out runs the king’s horses over those same 18 miles! Elijah is definitely on a roll. However when Jezebel hears what Elijah did to her prophets of Baal she sends a message to him saying “The gods do so to me and more if you are not dead like one of those prophets by this time tomorrow.”

After such an impressive string of supernatural events you would probably expect Elijah to shrug off her threat, but instead scriptures says “When he saw that he was stricken with fear.” He ran three days in the desert, sat under a tree and begged that God would kill him. Notice that when he heard the description of Jezebel’s threat it says “He saw that.” Have you ever noticed that we think in pictures? If you hear the words “three-headed dog” your mind creates an image of a three-headed dog. Elijah’s mind created an image of the fulfillment of Jezebel’s threat and he chose to keep that image in the forefront of his mind. His emotional reactions of fear and panic, even his suicidal desires, all came from his choice to continuously think about and envision Jezebel’s threat coming to reality. He had plenty of positive things he could have focused on but, like many others who struggle with depression he didn’t do it.

In the 73rd Psalm David speaks a bit about envying sinners in verse 11. He says “And they say ‘How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High’ behold, these are the ungodly who are always at ease, they increase in riches.” In verse 17 David gives us the key to solving that apparent dilemma of the over privileged sinner. “Until I went in to the Sanctuary of God; then I understood their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terror.” David is reminding us that it is all about perspective. When Job looked at the destiny of the unjust from God’s perspective, which includes the present but also includes eternity, suddenly he was reminded that the success he thought he saw was only a temporary drop in the bucket. We must keep an eternal perspective. When looked at in its entirety there is no longer any reason to be envious of the plight of the unjust.

In this saying Solomon continues: “Always be zealous for the fear of the Lord.” A prerequisite to being capable of obeying this command is to always be in the Word of God. Jesus was very clear in Matthew 4:4 “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that

proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Psalm 1:2 also says “But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night.”

Secondly, to maintain zeal for God we must do the work of the Lord. Romans 12:11 says “Don’t let your enthusiasm wane—be spiritually alive,—binding yourself to the Lord in service.” If the only thing you ever do is attend church it is good that you go but that is not enough for you to develop properly. Christianity is not just a meal ticket into eternity. Jesus repeatedly refers to the kingdom of heaven as being here and now. I am not claiming the millennial reign has begun. I realize that the millennial reign will be the most complete display of God’s kingdom here on earth. But, scripture does not say that God’s kingdom starts in the millennium. Scripture says that it is already here and that we are to participate with our gifts and talents as a part of the body of Christ.

Revelation 22:12 clearly shows us that when Jesus returns he expects that we will have been working. “Behold I’m coming quickly; My reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work.”

As Solomon finishes verse 18 he says “For surely there is a hereafter and your hope will not be cut off.” There is a future hope for you. There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. He is reminding us of the certainty of eternity and the spirit realm. The temptation is to think of the spirit realm as something mystical and somehow less real than the physical. The truth is that the spirit world created the natural world. It was here before the natural world and it will be here afterwards. What makes humans so special is that we are a hybrid being. Angels are purely spiritual and animals are purely natural. You, however, have a part of you that is most at home in the spiritual realm and a part that is most at home in the natural realm.

Heaven will be a wonderful place. There is no bad part of heaven. However everyone there is not fully satisfied. Paul tells us in Corintians 5:2 that “you will long to be clothed.” You see, if you die before Jesus returns and resurrects the dead the part of you that is natural is still dead. Paul says that you will long to be “clothed” or reunited with that body. It is interesting to note that it is because of

this that Christians have always buried their dead instead of cremating them, as many pagan societies do. When Moses died God buried him, he didn’t cremate him. I am not saying God cannot resurrect the body of the cremated. Of course he can. I don’t know how He does it. I suppose it will be like the many Christian martyrs that were burned at the stake. My point, however, is that Christians should be spiritually minded even in their natural choices. The percentage of Americans who choose cremation has increased from 1.5% in 1900 to 3% in 1960 and then jumped to near 33% today. This is representative of the disassociation with the spirit realm that plagues Christianity today. Christians in America have lost sight of the spiritual significance of many of their choices including burial, which ideally should be a symbol of their faith in the coming resurrection. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God is obviously interested in both your spiritual and natural body. In Acts 7:60 it is talking about Stephen and it says “And they stoned him and he fell asleep.” It is almost a certainty that because he was stoned his skull was crushed, so why would scripture say of his body that “he fell asleep”? The reason the Bible says it that way is because just like your body goes to sleep each night only to wake up the next morning, so our bodies in death go to sleep to eventually be awakened or resurrected by God Himself.

One reason I believe many Christians are not eternally minded is because they just don’t know enough about what eternity will be like. I have heard Christians say things like “I am glad to be saved and all but I am not looking forward to floating around heaven on a cloud.” Most of us remember that in heaven there is no suffering, no sin, and none of the consequences of the fall. But what about the things that are there? The Bible tells us that Heaven will be a place of reunion and fellowship. There will be music, trees, lakes, rivers, and homes. “That sounds like earth” you may say. That is right, heaven will be a lot like earth but without the effects of sin. In fact,

Revelation shows us that those who died before Jesus’ return will be coming back to a new and improved earth for the 1000 year millennium. There is a lot to look forward to in eternity, and a lot we can do now to prepare for it.