God Hates Sin
A guest teacher at East Valley Bible Church draws on 1 Peter 1 to challenge believers to live as strangers and aliens in this world, keeping their citizenship in heaven firmly in view. He contrasts the world's vague notion of hope with the certain, patient expectation Scripture describes, arguing that a heavenly perspective produces four practical effects: strength in trials, encouragement in the struggle against sin, focus for daily life, and a deepening longing to be with Christ. Personal reflections, vivid illustrations, and testimonies of suffering saints ground the call to set minds on things above rather than on the temporary things of the earth.
“We're as certain of heaven as the saints who are already there.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: A Study Of The Life Of Jesus Christ (2005)
Recorded: 2005 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 41 min
Themes: heaven, hope, suffering, sin, holiness, eternity, trials, longing for christ, struggling with sin, going through suffering, feeling discouraged, student, young adult, new believer, searching for purpose, feeling homesick for heaven
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:1, 1 Peter 1:3-6, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 Peter 4:1-2, 2 Peter 3:10-14, Colossians 3:1-2, Philippians 1:21-23, Philippians 3:20-21, Romans 7:24-25, Romans 8:23-25, James 4:14, Ephesians 2:10, Revelation 21:1-7
Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, glorification, freedom from sin, soteriology, heavenly citizenship, 1 peter, eschatology
Full Transcript
Introduction
About January, I began listening to a CD, and the last song on the CD had a chorus that simply said, "Remind us that we have not reached home." It seemed like every time I got in my car, it would come to that same spot, over and over again — remind us, God, that we have not reached home. That was January. A couple of weeks later, we headed off to Student Ministry's winter camp, and Tyler delivered a whole message on heaven. Then, just two weeks ago, Tom was up here talking about forgiveness and what it frees us from — the penalty of sin, that Christ freed us from it.
If you look at it in terms of past, present, and future: we are freed, past tense, from the penalty of sin. Present tense, we are continually freed from the power of sin as a result of the Spirit. And one day, as we sang about, we will be freed from the presence of sin in its entirety. We look forward to that day when we will not only be freed from the penalty and the power, but from the complete presence of sin — it won't even be an issue anymore. That is really what I wanted to share with you today.
Scripture calls us to have that kind of mindset. I'm sure all of you heard Justin teach last week on Colossians chapter 3, and he reminded us of what it says: "Set your heart on things above, not on earthly things, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above." That is clearly the call of Scripture.
The Challenge of a Heavenly Mindset
With all that said, I want to be transparent and say that this is difficult for me. As a young guy — I'm 23 years old — I am so excited about so many of the things that life has to offer. I'm excited about what the Lord will do in my life and the people He has brought into my life, and I'm thrilled about life in general. So it's a paradigm shift for me to start thinking along the lines of setting my mind and heart towards heaven when I'm so excited about what God is doing here and now.
I relate it back to when I got my driver's license. I remember eating, sleeping, and breathing driving — that's all I wanted to do. I subscribed to Motor Trend magazine when I was 13 years old, and every month when it showed up on my doorstep I would pour through it, reading the same articles again and again, memorizing all the statistics for the cars. Even though I wasn't able to drive yet, it was on my mind, it was in my heart, it was all I talked about and thought about.
Thinking back on that, I wrote some things in my journal that I want to share with you. I found myself wondering why my attitude towards heaven seemed so different by comparison. Up until the day I got my license, I couldn't get driving out of my head — so how is it that the greatest promise in the universe, the hope of heaven, gets so little airplay in my mind? God in His grace has given me a taste of what heaven might be like. He has allowed me to enjoy His presence, so powerful that sometimes, like Peter, I didn't want the moment to end. How is it that, although I have tasted the glory of heaven, it fails to really fill up my dreams?
That is some of what I have been wrestling through in my own heart, and I wanted to bring these thoughts before you today. I think, as believers, something we will struggle with until that day is simply the fight of the flesh — the fight to not be worldly.
What the World Really Is
I want to share a quote I came across. J.C. Ryle wrote this in describing the world: "The world is those people who think only or chiefly of the world's things."
Citizens of Heaven
We are people who neglect the world to come — always thinking more of earth than of heaven, more of time than of eternity, more of the body than of the soul, more of pleasing man than of pleasing God. Everything in me wants to resist that. But it is hard. And so I have come across some truths from God's Word that I want to share with you, truths that originated from 1 Peter chapter 1. If you have your Bible, I invite you to turn there.
A little background on the book of 1 Peter: Peter is writing to a church scattered across Asia. It is a brand new church. Jesus had left probably fifty years earlier, and so there is this young group of believers scattered in the midst of severe suffering and persecution. Peter writes this letter to encourage their hearts, and he talks a great deal about suffering throughout the book.
Right off the bat, verse 1 of chapter 1 reads, "To God's elect strangers in the world." You can stop right there. Back in January I was listening to a song, and Tyler was teaching about it, and Tom was asking us the question: do you anticipate the return of Christ? I ended up in 1 Peter during my quiet time and came to those very words — "to God's elect strangers in the world" — and I stopped. I wrote in my notes: what does it look like to be a stranger in the world?
Strangers, Aliens, Foreigners
Depending on your translation, you might see the word "stranger." If you are reading the New American Standard, it may say "alien." The New Living Translation says "to God's chosen people who are living as foreigners." A stranger, an alien, a foreigner — you get the idea. That word in the Greek is literally translated "transient." When I heard that word, my mind immediately went down to Mill Avenue, to the people who live there without a home, and I wanted to get my arms around the textbook definition.
Webster defines a transient as "one who is passing especially quickly into and out of existence." When I read that, I thought — that is exactly what God's Word says. James chapter 4, verse 14: "What is your life? It is just a mist, a vapor." You are here for a short while and then you are gone. We are passing quickly. Sometimes it does not feel that way, but in the scope of eternity we are passing quickly into and out of existence.
So when Peter writes to these people, right off the bat he addresses them for who they are: strangers to the world. Here is what Peter is getting at. We are strangers. We are aliens. We do not belong here, because as Paul writes in Philippians chapter 3, our citizenship — where we truly belong — is in heaven. Philippians 3:20-21: "And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body."
Two Truths, Four Impacts
My desire today is to do one main thing: to keep the truth that we are citizens of heaven in front of us, to keep it on our minds and in our hearts. I believe with all my heart that it will have a profound impact on the life that we live here, as short as it might be.
So let me give you a roadmap of where we are going this morning. I want to start by looking at two simple truths. The first is that life is overrated. Now, perhaps you came to church today feeling discouraged and hoping to be cheered up — I am sorry. Life is overrated, and we are going to talk about that. The second truth is that hope is misunderstood.
Once we have those two truths in hand, we are going to look at four impacts they have on our lives. They will create strength in the midst of trials, bring about encouragement in the midst of our struggles, produce a focus for our lives, and finally stir a simple, deep longing to be at home with our Lord. That is where we are headed.
Life Is Overrated
So let us dive into this most encouraging truth: life is overrated. Some of you might be looking at me and saying, "How would you know?" That is fair. I remember being in high school and all I wanted was to get out of high school. Then I was in college and all I wanted was to get out of college. Then I was living in an apartment thinking, "If I just had a garage." Then I moved into a house and got the garage — and it just keeps going.
The things you look forward to so much in this life — you get them, and it is great, you are thankful, they bring temporary joy. But they do not bring permanent, final, lasting satisfaction. And you know what? They were never meant to. This world was never meant to fulfill our deepest longings and our deepest desires.
In that sense, in comparison to eternity — where we will be in the presence of our Lord and Savior — life is overrated. It is nothing in comparison to the glory that will be revealed, which is exactly what Paul writes in Romans chapter 8: it is simply not worth comparing to the glory that is going to be revealed to us one day.
The Promise of Heaven
I want to ask you not to turn there, just for the experience of listening and imagining in your minds and hearts what this will be like. This is what God's word says heaven will be like. I'm reading from Revelation chapter 21.
*"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, and no more mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. Then He said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. He said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all of this. I will be his God, and he will be my son."*
That is what we have to look forward to — an amazing day where sin will no longer be an issue, where we will be able to do what we were designed to do, and that is bring glory to God in a perfect way, in a way that pleases Him. With all that said, life is overrated compared to the hope of heaven.
Hope Is Misunderstood
Here is the second truth we have to understand: hope is misunderstood. You have heard me say already a couple of times this morning "the hope of heaven," and I think we are conditioned by the world to have a faulty understanding of what biblical hope is. If you are walking down the street and you run into somebody, you might hear them say something like, "Man, I hope the Cardinals have a winning season." At best, that is unlikely. What they are saying is, this is my desire, I would like to see the Cardinals have a winning season, but the reality is I do not know if that is going to happen or not.
When we look at the scriptures, we see the opposite definition. Paul writes in Romans chapter 8: *"We ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies, for it is in this hope that we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all, for who hopes for what he already has?"* Here is the key point: *"If we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."*
Do you see the contrast? The world would say, "I hope this is going to happen" — it is a possibility, an option, something they would really like to see, but they are just not sure. That is not the hope we have as believers. This hope, Paul says, we can wait for patiently, for we know that the words Christ spoke are true. He said, "I am coming back," and we can count on that. We can anticipate it with assurance. As we come to the scriptures and look at this idea of heaven, we have to train ourselves to think as Tom has taught us to think: we are as certain of heaven as the saints who are already there. It is not something we have to wonder about.
The Effect of Hope: Strength in the Midst of Trials
These truths, when they are understood, bring about four effects in our lives. The first effect is this: they bring about strength in the midst of trials. As I mentioned, Peter is writing his letter to a group of people who are in the midst of brutal persecution and suffering. This is what Peter writes in verse 3 of chapter 1:
*"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, never spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time."*
Did you catch that description? Shielded by God's power, kept in heaven for you — this is a sure thing. It is a hope that is secure, that is permanent. It is in this that you can greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while you might have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
I think our culture and our society have trained us to have a distorted understanding of what trials are. I was talking to somebody this week, and it made me chuckle. They said, "My husband and I have this 36-inch TV in our bedroom. Well, it broke, and it has been at the repair shop for about three weeks, and we have been having to watch on this little 20-inch." She was laughing about it — she is a believer — and she said, "Isn't it silly? How is it possible that I would sit and complain about that?" Now if you move a little farther east, toward the coast, particularly Florida — if you have been keeping up with the hurricane — that is a trial. There are people who have lost everything, and their homes and belongings are simply a wasteland.
I went on the internet today to check on the status of that situation, and I came across a quote from a pastor who has a church in the affected area. This is what he said: "I guess it is at a time like this when you realize the significance of spiritual values, when everything else is blown away." Now I want to set before us that the scriptures would challenge us not to only think of heaven when everything
Strength in the Midst of Trials
Whether our trials are as simple as a broken television or far more severe, I want to heighten our understanding of suffering and trial. I know there are many people in this room dealing with serious issues — family members who are sick, struggles in relationships and marriages. I want to share a story I came to know through a woman here at the church named Maggie Dahlman.
Maggie spent a year off the coast of Sierra Leone, on the west coast of Africa, with a ministry that provides medical care for people who cannot afford it. During her time there, she came into contact with a woman whose story gives us a window into the depth of suffering that exists in that part of the world. This woman was with her family when her father was murdered. She was nineteen years old, and there was tremendous civil war and political unrest in the region. Rebels trying to overthrow the government forced people out of their villages, and those who refused to join their forces were treated with horrific cruelty. They murdered her father, cut off her feet at the ankles, and mutilated her body simply to make her life painful.
Four years later, her husband died of malaria while she was pregnant with her third child, leaving her as the sole supporter of her family — her widowed mother, her siblings, and her three fatherless children. This woman came aboard the ship to receive medical care, and Maggie had the opportunity to talk and dialogue with her. She discovered that this woman is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Her attitude was simply this: God allowed this to happen, and I am going to trust Him.
How is that possible? The Scripture speaks of a living hope that the world cannot dampen and cannot snuff out. The hope we have in Christ is permanent, and when we understand our hope of heaven, the trials of this world bring suffering, but ultimately we have hope in the midst of all of them. It is amazing that her theology is so exactly right. She said what Job said: "The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." That is what God's Spirit does — it strengthens His people to stand firm in the midst of trials.
The truth we find in 1 Peter chapter 4 is precisely what was at work in this woman's life. This is what Peter writes in chapter 4, verses 1 and 2: "Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourself also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God." This woman has dealt with extreme suffering, and what it has done is purify her attitude. She is not preoccupied with evil human desires or the things of the world. Her mind is focused on her Lord, and it is just that simple.
That is the impact a heavenly, Christ-centered perspective can have on the life of a believer. It equips us with strength in the midst of whatever trials we may be going through. In a room this size, I have no doubt there are serious things going on in people's lives. So let me take a moment to encourage you: God's words are true. This woman's testimony is biblical truth being lived out — it is someone depending on the Spirit. If you are here and serious suffering is present in your life, or perhaps it is not severe but it is painful, we sympathize with that. I would encourage you to turn to the One who can bring comfort to your heart, and that is Jesus Christ. If we turn to Him, He will provide. The Bible says that His grace is sufficient.
Encouragement in the Midst of the Struggle with Sin
We have seen that the hope of heaven, this eternal perspective, can bring about strength in the midst of trials. It can also bring about encouragement in the midst of our struggles. That is the second effect this heavenly perspective can have for us, and I want to make a distinction here. When I say struggles, I mean something different from trials. By struggles, I mean you and I as believers wrestling with sin, wrestling with the flesh.
Many of us have turned to Romans chapter 7 at some point in our Christian walk. Paul writes that the thing he wants to do is what he does not do, and the things he does not want to do are what he finds himself doing. He describes a constant war between the Spirit of God who lives in him and his unredeemed flesh — flesh that will one day be redeemed when Christ returns, but for now leaves him in the middle of this battle. Paul concludes that passage by asking, "What a wretched man I am, who will rescue me?" — future tense, who is going to rescue me one day from this body of death? — and then answers, "Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Paul's longing and desire was to be free from the struggle with sin, and he recognized that Jesus Christ was going to be his rescuer. One day we will be rescued and set free from this battle we are in the middle of. I know that there are people in this room who struggle with sin. Let me encourage you: one day that fight is going to be over. In the midst of it, I once again encourage you to turn to Christ and the strength He provides.
A Focus for This Life
We can rejoice today and take encouragement from knowing that it is going to end, and that one day Christ will come back. We will fly away and will no longer deal with sin. What a great day that will be.
The third effect that a heavenly perspective will bring is a focus for this life. I am a music person, and there is a Switchfoot lyric that says this: "I've seen ashes shine like chrome, but one day I'll see home." What the songwriter is trying to emphasize is that he has seen the things of the world that he knows are going to burn. Scripture clearly says the earth and all that is in it is going to burn, and God is going to create a new earth.
So the lyric "I've seen ashes shine like chrome" acknowledges that the things of the world can be attractive. They can be shiny, they can vie for our attention, and they can capture our eyes. But the second half of the lyric answers that: "but one day I'll see home." Even in the midst of being in a place where we do not belong long term, even while we struggle with the distractions and the things of the world, one day we will see home. If we have heaven on our minds, it will bring a focus to our life.
The Big Fish Illustration
A movie came out not long ago called Big Fish. This next illustration is going to require a little imagination. We are going to pretend that this music stand here is a beautiful girl. In the movie, a young man walks into a room full of people where a party is going on. From across the room, he sees a beautiful girl, and as soon as he locks eyes with her, everything else in the room goes blurry while she stays clear.
He floats through the middle of the room toward her. There are distractions on the left — people dancing, laughing, partying, having a good time. There are distractions on the right — people passing between the two of them. But all of those things are blurry, because his mind is focused on her. The scene shows him maneuvering through the midst of all these distractions while remaining fixed on what he has set his eyes on.
That is a wonderful illustration of our life as believers. We get saved, we come to the knowledge of the truth about who Jesus Christ is, and that He longs to set us free from our sins so that, as Scripture says, we can be a people belonging to God — Christ's workmanship, as Ephesians puts it. Now we are headed toward something, and that something is heaven. Our mindset should be just like that scene in the movie: the goal, the end, is clear, and the distractions — the things that want to get in our way — should be blurry.
We should set our focus and our hope on our destination, which is heaven. We have to constantly remind ourselves that that is where we are going, so that all the things that distract us will stay blurry and not take us away from what really matters most in life.
Peter's Call to Holiness
As quoted before, 1 Peter 2:9 says, "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you might declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." Later in his second letter, Peter writes this in 2 Peter 3: "The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare."
Peter then asks, with the mindset and perspective that all of these things are going to be gone and the earth is going to be destroyed — what kind of people ought you to be? His answer follows: "You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness." He then concludes: "So then, dear friends, since you are already looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him."
Peter writes that with this in mind — knowing that this earth is temporary — we should let that shape our focus. Be godly. Live for the Lord. This illustrates exactly what Paul says in Philippians chapter 1: "For to me, to live is Christ." There is a single-mindedness there worth noting. Paul understood that he was saved for one specific purpose, and that was to live life for God's glory.
The Foolishness of Living for the World
We still wrestle with worldliness, and we are in the midst of that struggle. I want to take a moment to illustrate how foolish it is for us to live for the things of the world. Take a look at this instrument right here. This is a 1962 reissue Fender Stratocaster. Notice the three-color sunburst finish, the custom black pickguard, and the synchronized tremolo. The pickups are from the custom shop at Fender. This is a wonderful guitar, and it was a gift to me when I graduated from ASU — my parents got it for me.
A Finely Crafted Creation
This guitar was crafted by the fine people at Fender for a specific reason, and the reason is to make music — to make beautiful sounds with it. That's the purpose. Now, what if I said, thanks for this guitar, I like it, but right now the pulpit is too tall, so instead of using it as a guitar, I'm going to pretend it's an axe and take a hack at the pulpit? You would all say, what are you doing? What a waste. And then my dad would come up here and kill me.
Don't miss the point. This is a finely crafted, highly valuable creation, made by the fine people at Fender. Ephesians 2:10 says that you and I are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Just as this guitar's purpose is to create music, your purpose and mine is to live for God's glory, to live a life that is holy and devoted to Him.
When we go out and live life for our selfish reasons, for our worldly motivations, when we do what we want to do and say, "I recognize what Scripture calls me to do, but I just don't want to" — what we are doing is taking something finely crafted and highly valued, which is your life in Christ Jesus, and smashing it. We are wasting it. It is my desire, and I believe with all my heart that it is God's desire, that we would have a heavenly perspective so that we can take what Christ's blood had to pay for seriously.
If we want to talk about value — our souls, our very lives are the Lord's. 1 Peter 2:9 tells us we are God's possession, paid for by the blood of Christ. Let us decide now that we are not going to tragically waste our lives the way that guitar could be wasted. You are valuable in the Lord's eyes.
A Heavenly Perspective Shapes How We Live
This heavenly perspective brings about a focus for our lives. It describes how we are to live. At the end of that passage in Philippians chapter 1, Paul says, "To live is Christ, to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will be fruitful labor, yet what shall I choose? I do not know. I am torn between the two." And then he says, "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far." That is his mindset.
With heaven on our minds and in our hearts, it will bring about that same desire in us, and we will simply have a longing for home. Now, sometimes as a young person, that is hard to relate to. Tom says that we are to be homesick for a place we have never been before, and you think — how is that possible? How can I be excited about something I cannot really relate to?
Let me put it this way. What if somebody came to my office and said, "I have free tickets to David Crowder on Friday night — go enjoy it"? Would I be excited? Absolutely. Now, what if somebody showed up at my desk ten minutes later and said, "John and George have been resurrected from the dead and the Beatles are having a reunion show — here are your two tickets"? Which would I be more excited about? This is not a trick question. The Beatles. Can I get an amen?
Here is my point. The more excited you are, the more you anticipate what you are about to experience, the more enthusiasm that will bring in the here and now. You tell me I am going to see David Crowder — between now and Friday I will be pretty excited. I have seen him a couple of times before; he is excellent. But the Beatles? This is something I have never experienced before. This is something supernatural. I would not shut up about it all week long. That is all I would talk about.
The Invitation Laid on Your Lap
Here is the point. As we read in Revelation, God has revealed to us an invitation that says one day you are going to be in a place where you will not have to deal with sin anymore, where you will have perfect relationship with the Creator God of the universe, where you will live for Him — which is your purpose — in perfection. The things you desire to do now, which is hopefully to glorify God, and you feel guilty because you struggle with that — we will do that in perfect holiness. He will be perfectly pleased with us for all of eternity.
That is the invitation that has been laid on your lap. And so the question is, are you excited about it? Are you looking forward to it? I understand that that is a wrestling match, and it was my desire today simply to bring heavenly thinking into our hearts and minds.
Missing You
Chris Rice wrote a song called "Missing You," and the lyrics really get to me. I want to share them with you now.
*I heard about the day you went away. You said you had to go prepare a place. And even though I've never seen your face, I'm missing you. I lie awake tonight and watch the sky. I wish it didn't have to be so high, because I belong on the other side. And I'm missing you. I dream about your promise to return. And I wake up hanging on your every word. But for now, my feet are planted here on earth. And I'm missing you. And even while they say that I'm a fool, I know that you see me waiting here for you. And I'm praying that somehow you'll get here soon. But how much longer will it be until I get —*
Cultivating a Heavenly Mindset
How do we get there? What are the things we need to be doing to cultivate this mindset, this attitude? There are two things to consider.
The first is to be reminded. We were singing earlier, "Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be until I die." We need to remind ourselves of the gospel. There is a book I am reading right now that says we should preach the gospel to ourselves every day — to be reminded that we are sinners who have been saved by God's grace.
The gospel lays out our purpose. 1 Peter 2:9 tells us we are a people who have been saved — a holy nation, a chosen people, a people belonging to God. We are His possession for the purpose of living for His glory. We need to be reminded of that on a continual basis, that this world is not our home. So number one: be reminded of the gospel, be reminded of your purpose.
Spending Time with Jesus
Number two is simple: spend time with Jesus. I have been reminded lately of how important it is to engage in our relationship with the Lord the way we would engage with people. If I want to get to know somebody, I have to spend time with them. That is just the bottom line.
A.W. Tozer has a word of wisdom on this subject. He wrote: "Religion, so far as it is genuine, is in essence the response of created personalities to the creating personality, God. 'This is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.' In making Himself known to us, He stays by the familiar pattern of personality. He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills, and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of redeemed man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion."
Tozer's message is this: seek after God, seek to know Him, and engage with Him as a person. If we are simply reminding ourselves of the truth of the gospel on a continual basis, if we are pursuing a relationship with God, pouring our hearts out to Him, and listening to Him pour His heart out to us through prayer and through the Word, that will bring about the proper perspective that we are citizens in Heaven.
Closing Prayer
I hope that is an encouragement to your heart today. I hope you are looking forward to that day when we will be with Him forever.
Father, thank You so much for these truths. God, our prayer is that You would grow our hearts, that You would grow our minds to the place where we live in such a radical way, God, that we look like strangers in this world. God, would You come and would You soften our hearts? Would You reveal to us where we need to grow? God, would You reveal to us the things in our life that are distracting us right now from the Kingdom? God, give us Your heart, give us Your mind. May they be set on things above for Your glory, Father. We pray all these things in Your name. Amen.