You must know how to use the tools given you.”
                    –D.C. Adkisson  (The True and Unbiased Life of Elias Butler)

       “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.”
                    –1 Corinthians 4:2 (NIV)
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     Why, why do we insist on living by the world’s ideas, philosophies, and systems?  Yes, I understand that we live in the world, and therefore, we must to a certain extent live according to the culture in which we live, BUT, but we must have a Biblical worldview in which to live, view, and understand how we are to live.  Paul writes:

               We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
                         –1 Corinthians 2:12 (NIV)

     There is no reason or excuse to say that the world controls us.  No, as John Owens wrote, “A spiritual attitude of mind is no hindrance to secular work:  even though a pot is full of chaff (the secular) you can still pour a lot of water (the spiritual) into the same place.  In fact, as Christians we should make the workplace a better place for we are to be salt and light.  We are not of the world, we do not view the world as those in it do, we do not seek the things of the world, yet we live here and thus must impart our abilities, gifts, and light to a darkened world.
     Why do some Christians then insist on being part of the world?  Paul refers to them as carnal Christians.  We no longer continue to live on a carnal level.  The Christian who desires to do so lives a life of perpetual conflict and repeated defeat.  But know this, we have the Spirit of God within us to help us overcome, live a joyful and victorious life in the midst of this wicked and evil world.  Alan Redpath said, “Every Christian–no matter how weak and feeble, how poor and helpless, perhaps with a sense of utter inability and frustration–whatever his own personal feeling may be, is indwelt by the Third Person of the Trinity.”
     How then do we live, survive?  There are two major components to preserving one’s spirituality while living and working in secular matters.  First there must be a time set apart in the day for prayer and Bible reading, and even more for some Bible study.  The spiritual man must be fed properly, or the carnal man will hunger more.  This time of prayer and reading must be regular.  I cannot emphasize that enough–regular, not haphazard, not willy-nilly, not when you feel like it.  If not, other things will crowd it out of your life.
      As people of the Spirit we should be led and guided by the Holy Spirit.  We should, in fact, we must be sensitive to His leading and His character.   We must seek to serve Him with all that is within us, not the things of the world.  That involves a spiritual attitude, not a carnal one.  Seek to have an earnest desire to spend more time with God, spend more time seeking and doing His well.  Do not become friends of the world.
     I like the way Dr. Henry Harbuck translates this verse, “Now we have not received the spirit (inner mind or disposition) of this age [that is of a human source], but the [Holy] Spirit Who comes from God, so that we may gain insight into the blessings and gifts that are freely given to us by God.”  Oh, Lord, let us seek You more earnestly as we live and walk in this pagan world.

 

But greed had a way of being all consuming. It burrowed into your mind so that all you thought about was money or gold.”
                    –B. S. Dunn  (Last Stand in Sanctuary)

       “Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.”
                    –James 1:9-10 (NKJV)
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Here we see in Proverbs 10:15 another contrast.  This time it is the wealthy versus the one in poverty.

          “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city; The destruction of the poor is their poverty.” (NKJV)

Wealth can bring many things, some of them good, some of them bad.  Much is on how wealth is used.  The rich must be careful not to make their wealth an idol thinking that it can cure and help in any situation.  Bob Beasley reminds us that the “fleeting riches of this life protect us from very little.”  Pestilence can run wild in a city, terror and evil are still rampant, life is in a rush.  It is a mistake to look upon wealth as a “strong city.”  It cannot secure us from the evils of life.  J.L. Flores warns us about this thinking, “Strongholds can be undermined, and those who had trusted in their strength have been destroyed by that very confidence.”
     There are over 900 billionaires in the United States.  Man, sometimes despairingly, seeks wealth.  I think of the gold rush back in the 19th-century.  “Pikes Peak or Bust” and most of them busted.  Or the slogan, “In God we trusted, in Kansas we busted” as many did not even reach the gold fields.  Gold, the symbol of wealth, is elusive.  It often causes delusions in those who seek it.  Think of the great disaster of October 1929 when the Stock Market crashed.  Some lost everything and could not handle that loss and took their own lives. See, the problem is not wealth; the problem is making it a god.  So often the old adage regarding wealth is true:  Here today–gone tomorrow.  The prophet Jeremiah tells us, “Nor let the rich man glory in his riches.” (9:23, NKJV)
     Then there is the poor man.  What more can be done to the poor?  They are already down and out.  What hope do they have?  They cannot turn to their riches, their money.  If they have it, most likely they squandered it foolishly.  They live daily in their destruction, destitute, homeless, addicted, stricken and many without hope.  It is important that both the rich and poor realize “that the blessedness of life here does not consist in what a man has, but in what he is.” (Flores)  You for sure can’t take it with you.  What is the saying, “I’ve never seen a hearse with a trailer hitch”?
     Those with wealth are expected to be a good steward and use it wisely for the kingdom of God.  They should know that to whom much is given, much will be required.  They are required to share their blessings, and I will say many do, but then…why do they share?  Heavy heart, guilty conscience, appease the soul, do penance or is it out of a love for God?  Jesus gave a warning that we find in Luke 12:15, “…Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” (NKJV)  Listen, wealth may be a curse, poverty may be a curse, “but a good conscience, a godly character, is a continual feast.” (Flores)

 

Men must struggle or they deteriorate.”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (The Californios)

       “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
                    –Romans 8:10 (NIV)
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         “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:  for they shall be filled.”  –Matthew 5:6 (KJV)

     Let me begin this with some background of the times in which it was written.  William Barclay does an able job explaining the life of the period.
               “The fact is that very few of us in modern conditions of life know what it is to be really hungry or really thirsty.  In the ancient world it was very different.  A working man’s wage was the equivalent of three pence a day, and, even making every allowance for the difference in the purchasing power of money, no man ever got fat on that wage.  A working man in Palestine ate meat only once a week, and in Palestine the working man and the day labourer were never far from the border-line of real hunger and actual starvation.
               It was still more so in the case of thirst.  It was not possible for the vast majority of people to turn a tap and find the clear, cold water pouring into their house.  A man might be on a journey, and in the midst of it the hot wind which brought the sand-storm might begin to blow.  There was nothing for him to do but to wrap his head in his burnous and turn his back to the wind, and wait, while the swirling sand filled his nostrils and his throat until he was likely to suffocate, and until he was parched with an imperious thirst.  In the conditions of modern western life there is no parallel at all to that.”
     I am thirsty just from reading that.  We may cry, “I’m thirsty,” but this beatitude is speaking of a deep thirst.  Not for real water but having an appetite for God.  There is an ongoing hunger for Him that is never fully satisfied.  The term means to have a “vehemet desire” or a “vividely expressed desire.”  Barclay refers to it as a “starving spirit.”  How thirsty are you for “righteousness”?
     There are actually three parts to righteousness.  The first is legal.  This is justification, a right relationship with God.  This was taken care of at the cross, but now we move into this meaning of this verse.  There is a moral righteousness which is an inner right-of-heart, mind, and motive.  Do you long to do right in all your motives?  Hmmm.  Then there is also social righteousness, this is outside of the private and is expressed in the community.  D.A. Carson says that the righteousness that Jesus is speaking of is “wholly to do God’s will from the heart.”  Barclay says, “It is the hunger of the man who is starving for food, and the thirst of a man who will die unless he drinks.”  That is the righteousness that we should and must have.
     The question is:  how intense is our desire for goodness, for righteousness?  The great author, Robert Louis Stevenson, wrote that “There is the malady of not wanting.”  Oh, we want all right.  We want this and we want that.  We want in our selfishness.  But…what do we hunger after?  We have a “jaded appetite.”  We want the calories of dessert or pizza or something that will fill the craving of our taste buds.  Friend that is not the same as spiritual hunger.  “Spiritual hunger is the characteristic of all God’s people.  Our supreme ambition is not material but spiritual.” (John Stott)  We want just a taste of righteousness but then we look at the things out there and we have a different type of hunger.  Listen, “Blessed is the man who hungers and thirsts for the goodness that is total.” (Barclay)
     We do not seek legal righteousness, that was taken care of at the cross.  To do this is crossing into legalism.  Longing and thirsting after salvation when it is already taken care of is not true hunger.  Our hunger should be after God’s righteous character.  To be like Him.  Oh, we can never reach that lofty goal.  But the key is, as Barclay writes, “Not necessarily the man who achieves this goodness, but the man who longs for it with his whole heart.”

 

Don’t be a drifter. Always have some sort of a plan. It may not be much, but don’t travel through life aimlessly. The plan may change; it may be vague, but have some purpose in where you travel and what you do.”
                    –D.C. Adkisson  (The True and Unbiased Life of Elias Butler)

       “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
                    –Matthew 7:14 (ESV)
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     Give praise and thanks to the Lord that you are traveling this path that some call the narrow way, others the gloryland trail, while others the highway to heaven or the heavenly trek.  No matter what you call it, know this, that it is uphill and hard.  Always uphill, or upward to glory.  It is always onward as well, there is no turning back.  I recall the first stanza of one of my favorite hymns penned by Johnson Oatman, Jr.
               “I’m pressing on the upward way,
               New heights I’m gaining ev’ry day;
               Still praying as I’m onward bound,
               ‘Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.'”
     As Christians we are all on the same upward trail, or trek.  It is the same path for every believer, however, on this journey each of the travelers face different obstacles along the way.  There may be storms, battles, disease, death, financial problems, sorrow and sufferings of a myriad types, and on, and on, and on the list continues.  And we all face these trials in different ways depending on our experiences, training, attitude, personality, and character.  But now no matter what, it is upward.  We continue on.
     Some will walk the road slowly, but with certain steps.  Others will take great strides at times, but then falter and slow down, while for others there seems to be little progress just inching along, but onward and upward is the road.  That is certain.  Another certain thing, this road is not a tip-toe through the tulips waltz.  But is very often along a precarious edge of a cliff knowing that a misstep could be fatal.  That’s when we reach out with assurance to grasp the Master’s hand.  He is with us all along the way, but it is on those strenuous parts of the journey that we feel the touch of the Savior.  The words of Elmo Mercer come to my mind.
               “Each step I take I know that He will guide me;
               To higher ground He ever leads me on.
               Until some day the last step will be taken,
               Each step I take just leads me closer home.”
     There are those of you who say, “wait a minute,” I’m not always going upward.  There are times I’m down in the valley of depression or the slough of despair.  If you have ever traveled in the Rocky Mountains you will know that even in the high country there are small valleys and ravines that must be traversed.  In Colorado, there are those lark parks:  North Park, Middle Park, and South Park.  They are not rugged, yet they are at a high altitude so when you are in them you are clearly in the high country.
     You must walk the journey alone, yet in another sense there are others walking with you.  You face your trials and obstacles alone, however there are members of the “family” who are there to pray and help escort you along the way.  You work out your own salvation, but you know that others have gone the way before you and that others are following you so leave clear footprints for them to follow.
     Weariness may try you, but take time to look back at where you once were.  Look at the experiences you have come through and rest in the knowledge that the Holy Spirit was with you each step of the way; therefore rejoice and smile.  Keep moving, don’t stand still, the journey continues and you’re moving toward eternity and home in heaven.