January 7

The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace, — Rom 8:6 BSB

In the same measure that our hearts and affections are set on heavenly things, we will feel a sweet sense of heaven resting on our spirit. Since we can only give back what we receive, every outpouring of divine life from our souls is the result of the incoming of that life from above. Christ is our life above (Colossians 3:4), and as He, through His Spirit and grace, sustains the life of faith in our souls, it expresses itself in gracious actions toward Him. Without this spiritual mindset, religion becomes just a name, an empty show, a deception, and a trap.

God does not welcome into heaven those who do not love Him, just as He does not invite into His eternal joy those whom He does not love. Heaven is for a prepared people, destined for prepared mansions. And this readiness for heaven, as an inward grace, consists largely in a sweet spirituality of mind, where heavenly things become our true happiness. In them, we find an inward delight that enlarges the heart, ennobles the mind, softens the spirit, and lifts the whole soul into a holy atmosphere where it rests.

This is “life”—not the cold, dead profession of those worldly-minded people who have only a natural faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the truths of His gospel, but that blessed life which will never die and will live forever in God’s eternal presence, even when the earth and all it contains are consumed in the flames. And it is “peace”—the dying legacy of our Redeemer—whereby, as He fulfills it, He calms the troubled waves of the soul, quiets every rebellious movement, and establishes Himself as the Prince of peace in the heart.