We live in a world that has a “broken” default state. This is the Christian point of view, if one were to align our view with the Bible. There are (of course) many Christian believers who may not believe in this – but if one is to source their belief from the authority of Scriptures, this is a conclusion that cannot be denied. The practical evidence of “broken” world is the inability to achieve bliss, peace and happiness that is continuous. Even the most ignorant (positive-compelling, negative-denying) person would admit that it is impossible to remain in a happy state or to expect things to go our way for periods of time; we certainly can have snippets of happiness and enjoyment, but these cannot last for long because the world is in a state where the little good that exist will quickly be overwhelmed by uncertainties, human sin, selfishness and calamities that often are beyond our control. If one would hedge on something certain for their business, it would be a safe bet on human suffering, a good example of such would be the news media business – can you imagine if everything was peaceful and going perfectly without any problems? There would be nothing to publish.
“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
This verse provides a timely reminder (to me) that it is always a necessity to re-align both our mind and heart to God’s vision. Man-made visions will always be plagued with the simple problem being narrow-minded and short-sighted. It is boastful to think that we have the capacity to see beyond our given limits (we have limits). Thus, it makes sense to subscribe to God’s view and vision – because His thoughts are not ours, His views expand vastly to the infinite canvas that we cannot hope to even comprehend. And it is true, our thoughts fold within us when we see things from our own human logic, and data that is confined to our senses and experience! How pitiful that we allow ourselves to be dictated by the ‘flesh’ in that manner. We end up majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors. The opposite can be true as well – our thoughts inflate our feelings to assume that things will be great… only to be confronted with the unknowns of time.
Paul, the writer of the verse, was not delusional: he knew that God will not explain or detail out the future for him. He is not told the manner of his death. He was not told the path that will end his ministry and his life. And yet, he is assured that to set the mind on the flesh is death – not physical death, but spiritual death! The death of a thousand death – for we cannot allow ourselves to be united with the world/flesh – to do so is to disown the “spiritual adoption” that belongs to Christian believers. The life of the Christian is not liberty for sinful, selfish decisions and living, but liberty to submit to the Greater King who loves and saves. There is just no “grey” area in this. The Roman soldiers who have cast their lot with Christ, remain soldiers who are faithful to Rome, but ultimately greater obedience rendered to the Invisible, Omnipotent Ruler who dwells in the heavenly places. These soldiers are dutiful to their earthly king, but more so to their eternal King above – they gladly defy the evil commands of their earthly masters and suffer under the lashes meted against them. They are ostracized but not alone in the universal family of adopted sons and daughters of God.
When man (flesh) has nothing to threaten, the Christian is invincible. The picture that often comes to mind is the scene from the famous Christopher Nolan film “The Dark Knight” when Batman brutally beats up the Joker in order to get information of the whereabouts of his childhood friend: the Joker rightly laughs/cries out to Batman – “you have no power, nothing to threaten me!” What can the flesh, the world, threaten the Christian believer? With our families? With our jobs? With our health? Nothing actually lasts. Nothing can last.
This is something that hits me harder as each year pass by and time flies. Be prepared for things to pass. It will happen. But look for the eternal things instead. It is like the childhood that we will never get back – it is gone. We have the memories and the lessons and that’s it. We cannot wish for it (it does not change anything). Instead, enjoy the present, and the future before those begin to pass as well. Prepare for what the Spirit has in store for Christian believers – these will guard both our heart and mind. This is eternal hope that cannot be destroyed. I needed this re-alignment. It is just so easy to be caught up by the emotions, the events, the incidences, the troubles, the problems, the pain, the uncertainty – but fix our mind (notice, it is with our thoughts FIRST), and then the “life” and “peace” will be in us.
