Good morning,
Some of us had a parent, teacher, sports hero, celebrity, or professional we looked up to and wanted to be like them. We wanted to be conformed to their image.
Christians are to be conformed to the image of Christ. We are to have the mind of Christ. We are to do things the way Jesus instructed us from the Bible.
This devotional is a warning to seek things above. Not the things of this earth.
A canker into the very core of your spirituality!
(Octavius Winslow)
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2
Heavenly-mindedness can only be maintained by the strictest vigilance. It is a delicate and fragile flower, susceptible to every variation of the spiritual atmosphere. Guard against that which checks its growth.
Many are not aware how much . . .
worldly amusements,
light conversation,
foolish jesting,
novel reading,
carnal music,
unfit the heart for communion with God, and lessen the tone of its spirituality.
Close communion with mere nominal religious professors is particularly to be avoided. Much more injury to spiritual-mindedness accrues from intimate friendship with such, than from those who assert no pretensions to a religious character; as with the one we are apt to be less on our guard than the other.
Avoid the world’s amusements–they will eat as a canker into the very core of your spirituality!
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world” is a prohibition which should never be absent from the eye of a traveler to the heavenly city.
Are not heaven’s attractions many and powerful?
How rich is heaven! Why, then, should not our thoughts be there? Oh! shall not our hearts be more where our most precious treasure is, where our holiest and dearest hopes center, and where we ourselves shall shortly be?
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:1-2
XXXXXXXX
Where do our minds dwell? Earth or heaven? Are we conformed to this world or the heavenly one?
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001
Leave a Reply