| |
| The purpose of this section is to present original points to
ponder from minister, Chris Cumming |
|
Directory |
|
|
| |
One of the first verses I ever memorized coming into God's
church was Matthew 6:33 which reads, "But seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things [food,
clothing, shelter, etc. from the previous verses in Matthew 6]
shall be added unto you. I had always thought this verse
was speaking to the spiritual goal I have as a firstfruit in the
Salvation Process. "One seeks the Kingdom of God by
diligently applying himself to the elements of that process."
However, I have come to see the admonition of this verse as
being so much more. Matthew 6:33 also gives us a specific
perspective that aids us in getting through all the trials and
tribulations of this life.
Think back to some of the more severe trials of your life since
your baptism. They were happening to you in real time and
you were naturally caught up in all the various facets of what
was happening to you in that moment. The toll these
tribulations take on us emotionally and mentally are legion.
This will always be so if our perspective is from within the
situation here and now. God, in His wisdom as provided for
us a way of escape. He has given us the gift of having a
better perspective. The gift and the instructions on how
to use the gift is right there in the verse!!
If we take the phrase, "seek ye the Kingdom of God" simply as a
spiritual goal that will be realized in the future, we will miss
the impact of what the verse means to us here and now and
especially when we are caught up in the myriad of pains and
sorrows generated by the trials of this life. In
explaining the verse, the People's New Testament says, "we must
make it first in importance. Everything else must give way
before its demands. It must be first in our affections and
have our whole heart. We must 'love the Lord our God with
the whole heart' and then references Matthew 22:37."
Matthew 22:37
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
It clearly says, "with all your mind"
speaking to every aspect of our emotional and mental lives.
We are to love God with all our heart, soul and mind even from
within the most painful moments of the trial or tribulation.
We are to seek the Kingdom and know that this trial will
eventually pass. There is an end to this physical life.
There is a resurrection. There is eternal life in the
Kingdom of God. Thinking on these facts from the middle of
that tribulation is how we escape it and/or how we get through
it. Having your mind on the Kingdom of God as if it were
here and now is how we invoke the fruits of the spirit known as
patience and longsuffering. I couch all this as having a
10,000-year perspective. That is, already see yourself
ten-thousand years into the Kingdom as a spirit being and now
looking back on this current trial. What power does it
have then? Where is the severity and sorrow of that trial
now? That trial means nothing now. It is a distant,
almost totally forgotten memory. Just recently I shared
with many of you the definitive scriptures on this 10,000-year
perspective.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our
outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the
things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are
temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Verse 16: The phrase
"for which cause we faint not" is referring to a descriptions of
very tough trials earlier in the chapter. Notice:
2 Corinthians 4:8-11
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are
perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus'
sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our
mortal flesh.
Then in verse 16, it says, "for this cause we faint not" because
our inward man is renewed day and night. For the word, "renewed"
Barnes Notes says, "is renovated, strengthened, invigorated.
His powers of mind expanded; his courage [is]
bolder; he has clearer views of truth; he has more faith in
God." It goes on to say, "The understanding of the heart
did not sympathize with the suffering and decaying body; but,
while that became feeble, the soul acquired new strength, and
was fitting for its flight to the eternal world [the
Kingdom]."
The firstfruit is renewed by focusing [seeking]
on the eternal Kingdom of God as if he were already there.
He knows that both this life and the trial are temporary, as if
a vapor.
Verse 17: Our
affliction is light and only for a moment [when
compared to eternity]. Clearly if you are in
the Kingdom of God and looking back, all those individual
hardships were but for a moment. They are nothing.
Verse 17 goes on to say that the greater weight is "glory"
speaking of eternal life in the Kingdom of God. There is
no comparison between the events of this life and your first
10,000 years in the Kingdom of God.
Verse 18: Here is the
primary instruction of this perspective: Focus on the
things unseen rather than the seen. There is no hope in
the here and now compared to the Kingdom.
The more you meditate about and pray for the 10,000-year
perspective, the lighter your affliction.
|
|
...more
to come |
|
|
