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"Overcoming Earthly Things" (posted May 17, 2014)

   The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.
   So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.
   - Judges 6:2, 6

The Midianites are a striking figure of earthly things. They robbed the Israelites of the enjoyment of their God-given inheritance and made their lives a burden and a misery; and this is precisely what earthly things do for the Christian when he is dominated by them.

Now the things of earth are not necessarily bad and grossly sinful. They are things which may be right and proper when kept in their right place, and they may include God's temporal mercies to us. But if they become our object in life, they crowd out the things of Christ and heaven, and as a consequence the sunshine departs from the life and the song from the lips, and soul prosperity is at an end.

Briefly summed up, earthly things represent the cares, riches, pleasures, and necessities of this life. They embrace the sweet and bitter, the joy and sorrow, the prosperity and adversity of our existence here, and are found in the family, social, and business circles; and if the mind becomes absorbed with them, the seed of the Word is choked in the heart and does not bring forth fruit. This is evident from the Lord's own words. "The ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard [the Word of God], go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity" (Luke 8:14).

Those who know not God and whose vision is bounded by the present are the nations of the world, who seek after these earthly things (Luke 12:30). But as the eagle spreads his broad pinions, soars above the earth, and bathes himself in the fair sunlight, so has the Christian received title and power to rise above the things of earth to enjoy the bright treasures of that place where Christ is preeminent. If, instead of fulfilling this high calling of God, he is found burrowing in the earth, there is neither fruit for God nor light for others-- for these two things are intimately linked together by the Lord (Luke 8:15-16).

Earthly things are set in contrast to things in heaven, and there is a constant rivalry between them. The things in heaven belong to the Christian, but the things of earth claim his attention and would exclude from heart and mind that which is his true portion; hence the need for the exhortation, "If then you were raised with Christ ... set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:1-2).

John T. Mawson



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