Set your mind on the things on high

Written by Eddy Amihere.

 

"But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”" (ESV) Mark 8:33

We wake up each day confronted with the pressures of life, unending entertainment, and technological craze. Our mind is full of the images we see on the screens and the streets. Man is so occupied and distracted that meditation on God's words is missing from our daily lives.

Paul sets several allegories that urge us to set our mind on the ultimate goal. When an athlete is running, the mind is not set only on the crown but the finish line and that keeps the runner energized till the end. Yet those who persevere in these earthly races receive but only a perishable reward. The boxer does not throw his jabs into the air hoping to win a belt. Even when the boxer is losing, the only thing in mind is to try and land his jabs at the opponent (1 Corinthians 9:25-27). A sportsman who does not set the mind on the ultimate crown is a loser from the beginning.

A farmer is always optimistic about a bountiful harvest. Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord (James 5:7). Paul counting his years of labour and suffering for the course of Christ resolved to only one thing, the things on high. “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14, NKJV). Peter puts it in another word "gird the loins of your mind" (1 Pet. 1:13).

From our reading, we learned that at a point in time, Peter got distracted and began to focus on things of the world. The Lord, Jesus Christ had to be strict to get Peter refocused on things of God. Are you distracted? Is your mind set on the things of God? Make the change now, in Jesus name.

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