Spiritual-Mindedness

“Spiritual-mindedness, then, is the chief characteristic that distinguishes a believer from all unregenerate people... to be spiritually-minded is to have holy, heavenly, spiritual thoughts.  The regenerate, spiritual heart, like a refreshing spring, pours out a crystal-clear stream of such thoughts… a person who depends on outward pressures and influences to keep up his spiritual thoughts is not spiritually-minded… [for] the mind may be filled with thoughts of spiritual things, but the heart, being unregenerate, has no love or delight in them.” ~John Owen

Throughout scripture, the cry of the heart of those who belonged to God was to see Him.  Their hearts and their minds were continually consumed with Him.  Abraham, Moses, Elijah, all of the angry prophets, the disciples, Paul, and the saints throughout the ages.  The cry of the heart is the same, "Give me Jesus," and the trajectory of life after meeting Christ is the same.  What I mean by that is throughout scripture and history, when a person encounters God, their lives are radically altered (although I think sometimes what we consider radical, the Bible considers normal, but that is a different topic for a different day).  And when I say their lives are altered, I mean they are noticeably different.  They no longer desire things the world chases after.  In fact, they desire things and take joy in things that the world ultimately considers foolish and strange.  They are consumed with spiritual thoughts and their soul delights in and takes joy in thinking about, meditating on, and seeing the glory of Christ displayed.  They long for the day they are set from from sin once and for all and see the glory of Christ with unveiled eye.

And yet so many today are deceived.  John Owen addressed this issue over 300 years ago and if anything it has gotten worse.  Listen to what he said.  

"Many greatly deceive themselves when hearing the word preached.  They agree with the holy truths in their understanding and assent to them as good 'ideas.'  But these truths are not allowed to impress themselves on their consciences nor to judge their present state and condition before God.  They think they believe, but in reality, they do not.  They hear, understand, assent to, and often approve of the things preached, but still they do not believe them so that the truth rules in their hearts.  If they really believed the truth as they say they do then they would judge themselves in the light of it.  They are like a man who looks at himself in the mirror, and then goes away and immediately forgets what he has just seen (James 1:23-24).  They hear the word and agree with it, but their minds are so filled with other interests that they soon forget what they have heard.  Where the love of earthly things wholly rules and dominates the mind; where the mind has an unrestrained love for worldly things, then that mind is unregenerate and unspiritual."

And here is what I mean when I say it has only gotten worse.  Today, we live in the most pandered too and indulged society in history.  For example, I watched the 4th quarter of the Patriots-Cowboys game this afternoon.  In just the 4th quarter there were 32 commercials.  Twice Miller-Lite informed me I would be more of a man if I drank Miller-Lite instead of another beer.  Bud Light told me if I drank their product life would be a party.  Four times Lexus told me why they were awesome and I needed their car.  Three major telecommunication companies (ATT, Sprint, Verizon) told me why they were the best and the other guys weren't.  And then there were all the food commercials, the TV shows that I need to watch on FOX (which apparently all of which are "cannot miss" episodes that will change my life), the other car companies that aren't as cool as Lexus (because Lexus told me 4 times they are the best, so they must be), and three movies that I must see in the next month when they open.  In between all of that I was watching grown men in tights being worshipped as gods, except for Romo, who was getting ripped up one side and down the other on national television.

And that onslaught was just 45 minutes.  What happens if I keep track of that for the entire day and not just TV but what my mind is thinking and desiring?  What happens if you do that?  I would be we spend more time thinking about the world and all it has to offer than Christ.  And this is on my day off... what happens once the work week starts and the stress of life hits like a ton of bricks?  How often do you think about spiritual things, and then, do you need some sort of external stimulus to think about them or do they flow from the heart that has been changed by the Holy Spirit?  It's easy to think about spiritual things when the music of Sunday morning is ringing in your ears (that is, if you like it).  But what about Sunday afternoon?  What about Monday?  Does your day even include time to think about who Christ is and what He has done?  If your mind does not often turn to thoughts of Christ, and even more importantly, if you heart does not take joy in those thoughts, what makes you think you will ever enjoy heaven much less ever see it?

With the kind of onslaught that we face daily from the world, with all of its demands and desires, if we think we are able to stand up against it on our own we are sadly mistaken.  Our flesh is week and unable to stand the test of time against the world.  We must run into Jesus.  We must seek Him.  We must desire Him above all else.  We must cry out to Him and ask Him to give us new hearts that behold that which is spiritual and good and holy and hearts that take joy in those things above all else.  For it is only when we see that which is infinitely good and beautiful will the things the world is continually pumping and throwing at us become strangely dim.