Category: Thoughts and Meditations

“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” – Romans 8:6

Where’s your mind? If you’ve embraced Jesus as your Lord, then you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and your mind should be set on the Spirit rather than on the old ways of life in this fallen world. Christians should think radically differently from their non-Christian friends and neighbors. Our priorities should be different. Our pursuits should be different. Our passions should be different. Our responses to triumphs, tragedies, accomplishments, and setbacks should be different.

The Christian mind should be driven by the Holy Spirit, focused on the things of Christ, and thinking in the manner of Christ. Your mind shouldn’t still be driven by the desires of the world and the flesh: power, money, status, lust, pride, rage, vengeance, jealousy, envy, bitterness, etc. These things are the things of death!

Discipline your mind to contemplate, meditate, and delight in Christ, God, Scripture, spiritual matters, the advance of God’s Kingdom, the return of Jesus, and much more. Focus your mind on what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). These are the things of life! Focus your mind on life rather than death and peace rather than chaos and disorder.

As you walk in the Spirit, live in the Spirit, and set your mind on the Spirit you will increasingly experience the Fruit of the Spirit in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Desire these things urgently! Set your mind on the Spirit and live in peace, today and everyday, regardless of what’s going on in your life!

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” – Matthew 24:45-46

Jesus made it abundantly clear that He was coming back and that His return would be at an unpredictable and unexpected time. Here He makes clear that in light of those first two truths, every person with responsibility in the Kingdom of God needs to fulfill those responsibilities faithfully at all times. Every Christian has work prepared for them to do to serve Christ (Ephesians 2:10). Fulfillment and satisfaction in life are tied to understanding and doing that work. The pleasure and reward of Christ are also tied to understanding and doing that work.

Christian leaders face even greater accountability to King Jesus. If you lead (even just a few) or teach (even just a few), know that Jesus expects you to do so faithfully (no matter how many or few). A life of quiet faithfulness in serving Jesus and caring for and discipling His people will be rewarded abundantly and eternally. Failure to faithfully care and provide spiritual food for those entrusted to you will judged, regardless of outward appearances.

Whatever your calling to serve in Christ’s Kingdom may be, serve well. Serve faithfully. Serve consistently. Serve faithfully when you feel like it and when you don’t. Serve faithfully when it’s convenient and when it’s utterly inconvenient. Serve faithfully when many are watching and when nobody other than Jesus is. Serve faithfully when those around you appreciate you and when they don’t. Ultimately, you serve one Master. Make His pleasure and satisfaction your overriding concern in life.

“I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
or your steadfast love is great to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.”
– Psalm 57:9-10

David wrote these words in a time of stress, fear, and danger. Fleeing for his life, he writes the psalm while hiding in a cave. He pleads for God’s protection and grace because he’s got nothing else he can rely on. Only God can protect him, which is the best possible situation for him! And so, as his psalm nears its end, David praises the God he knows will watch over him. God hasn’t yet visibly acted or changed anything about his situation, but David lives by faith and he knows that God’s nature will never change. He can trust God completely.

God’s steadfast love is never ending. If you’ve been adopted into His family through faith in Jesus Christ, then you are an object of God’s steadfast love. Know that no matter what dangers and disasters you may encounter in life, God’s steadfast love for you will never let go. He’ll never stop loving you, caring about you, welcoming you into His presence, or listening to your prayers. He’ll never abandon you, forsake you, or forget you.

God is perfectly faithful. He may not always give you what you want when you want it, but because He’s faithful, you can trust that He’s always knowing and doing what’s ultimately best for you and all of creation! For this reason, you can and should give thanks and praise Him even when there are tears in your eyes and heaviness in your heart. Like David, worship God, praise Him, and tell the world about His goodness, love, and faithfulness even while you’re still running, hiding, fleeing, fearing, and enduring the darkness of a cave. God’s love and faithfulness will never fail you!

“Behold, God is my helper;
the Lord is the upholder of my life.”
– Psalm 54:4

This psalm was written as David’s hiding place was being betrayed to King Saul. Saul’s furious and unjust hunt for him would resume and David was in danger yet again, but he trusted in God. David knew that his life and safety couldn’t be entrusted to other people. Only God could be trusted to sustain him through this long, difficult, and dangerous season in life. God will do the same for you!

Let God be your helper. Of course, He’s your Creator, your Lord, and your master. That’s a given as the Creator of the Universe. However, as you more consistently walk with Him and talk with Him, He’ll also be your helper, encourager, and sustainer. When life is spinning out of control, devote more time to worship God, praise God, pray to God, and listen to God. It will feel unnatural and illogical. When many things demand your attention and feel like a crisis, devote your attention to God and let Him handle those other matters.

God will sustain your life when you’ve got nothing left in the tank. God will keep your going when you’re exhausted and overwhelmed. Let Him sustain you – one minute at a time, one hour at a time, one day at a time. Lean on God in prayer and petition, in thanksgiving and sorrow. Trust Him and ask Him to strengthen you for the trials at hand each day rather than simply asking that He take the trials away. Embrace God more deeply and feel His strength that lets you keep taking steps forward when everything else within you is ready to quit.

God, be our helper! Lord, uphold and sustain our life! Amen.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” – Romans 5:3-4

It’s easy to give thanks and rejoice for the good things in our lives. During the holiday season, we often think about and give praise for the victories, highlights, joys, and blessings we’ve experienced over the past year. But are you also rejoicing in your sufferings, trials, and tribulations?

The Bible consistently teaches us to give thanks and rejoice in the hard times, the lonely times, the failures, the sorrows, the defeats, and the long painful seasons. Why? Because these test, strengthen, and mature our faith. They teach us to depend on God because we’re too weak to keep going ourselves. They teach us (often on the other side of them) that God is always with us and always faithful, even when life hurts terribly.

Sufferings produce endurance and character that’s been proven. We know on the other side of them what we’re able to endure by the power of Christ. We know how strong our faith can be. We know how we can bring glory to God even amidst grief and sorrow. We know that God is good at all times, wise in all situations, and that Christ, our suffering Savior, walks with us, strengthens us, and sustains us through all our suffering.

Trials and tribulations, when experienced in faith, move our hope from heaven to earth and from people to God. On the other side of the desert of suffering, we discover that our hope is no longer in career accomplishments, educational attainments, financial milestones, or even earthly relationships, all of which can falter, fail, or fade away. Our hope becomes rooted in the beauty and wonder of our eternal inheritance in heaven, our unending future joy in Christ’s presence, and the certainty of resurrection on the other side of death and suffering.

Jesus generally does far more to develop our character and faith through hard times than easy ones. Take a few minutes to look back over your life and see whether that’s been your experience. Then take time to rejoice in the tribulations and sufferings that have shaped who you are today in Christ Jesus!