Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Matthew 16:24-26 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after men, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
As a perfect parlay to the thoughts of Police Lieutenant General Binag from last week’s PLUS post, please consider this thought from fiery eighteenth-century preacher Jonathan Edwards:
“In worldly concerns, men discern their opportunities, and are careful to improve them before they are past. The farmer is careful to plough his ground and sow his seed in the proper season. When the harvest is come, he will not sleep away the time, or the crop will soon be lost. How careful and eagle-eyed is the merchant to improve opportunities to enrich himself? How apt are men to be alarmed at the appearance of danger to their worldly estate! O how they stir themselves in such a case to avoid the threatened calamity! But if we consider how men generally conduct themselves in things on which their wellbeing infinitely more depends, how vast is the difference. In these things, how cold, lifeless, and negligent most are. How few among the multitudes are wise!”
In temporal and tangible things, we are almost always discerning, careful, alert, and eagle-eyed. In eternal and spiritual things, we are often cold, lifeless, and negligent. It is an insult to God and a horrid reflection of our prevailing worldliness even though our wellbeing infinitely more depends on the latter than the former. It must not be so!
PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO FOCUS ON THE ETERNAL AND THE SPIRITUAL OVER THE TEMPORAL AND THE TANGIBLE. It is on the eternal and the spiritual that our wellbeing infinitely more depends.
ADMIN: The Jonathan Edwards quote came from “Voices from the Past: Puritan Devotional Readings” edited by Richard Rushing.
