Think eternal

Eternal beings

We have already entered this eternal spiritual state. We are now spirit beings in an earth suit, if you like, that, through gravity, fixes us to the earth as long as we are alive in this flesh. We live in a finite body, but our spirit and soul will live forever, albeit with a new body at the resurrection.

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because

“All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
But the word of the LORD endures forever.”

Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. 

1 PETER 2:22-25

We are born again of incorruptible seed. It’s the Word of God that is eternal. The Word is the seed. It is established in the heavens. We are born again through the Word of God. He has spoken. It is written.

He will hasten His Word to perform it (Jeremiah 1:12). Which is another way of saying that He has spoken and it will happen. The Word of God has an eternal dynamic.

Through the engrafted, or implanted, Word we will exist forever with God. Thus, we are already eternal beings, provided we have received Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Our body is still in a finite state, subject to the corruption in the earth and will need to be redeemed and changed, but our spirit and soul have been saved and are eternal.

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

1 CORINTHIANS 15:51-54

So, though this body may die, our soul and spirit will not die. That is what he means by sleeping. Their body has passed away, but they will be resurrected at the trumpet call of God. Death has no claim on us. Then, when the great day of Christ comes and we are summoned to Him in the clouds. we will be raised to be with Him and our body will be made incorruptible and fit for heaven.

Thinking eternal thoughts

So, now that we are eternal beings, we need to think that way. We need our focus to be on the Word and Spirit. We need to set our affections on heavenly thing, not just on earthly things.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 CORINTHIANS 4:16-18

We are admonished to look at the things which are not seen, the eternal things, the things of heaven.How do we do this? We read and absorb the Word of God and we live and walk in the Spirit.

You may have heard from someone that some people are ‘so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good,’ but that is not true to what we are saying here. That is more of a reference to those who live religiously and by rote, or legalistically adhering to the law.

But we are of the Word and of the Spirit. We live by the Word and are led by the Spirit. Our affection is set above. We are connected to the presence of God. That doesn’t mean we have no awareness of what is happening in the world. It means we are not overcome by the world, or subject to its corrupting influences when we apply the Word in our lives.

Knowing God and His Word is the key to eternal life living in the present.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

JOHN 17:3

Know God through Jesus the Son, present tense, is eternal life.  We live it now. With it comes the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and the ability to minster the good news.

Think eternal thoughts. Focus on the things that come from above.

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

COLOSSIANS 3:1-4