What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day?
What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me?
Welcome back to season 6 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. In our next few moments together, we hope to learn some of the most important lessons from some of the simplest things in life. Thank you for taking this journey with me.
I had the most bizarre experience late Thursday night. Kylie had already fallen asleep, and I was just getting ready to drift off myself when my phone pinged. Keep in mind, it was past midnight, so my first thought was, “Oh no, who is texting me this late? Something must be wrong.” I picked it up off the dresser to see that it wasn’t a text, but a Facebook messenger request – meaning someone was trying to get a hold of me that was not currently friends with me on social media. I opened it up to see it was a young lady named Emily, whom I had no mutual friends with, sending me a message from California. That explained the lateness of the message (they are three hours behind) but I had to accept the request to see the content. What could this individual want from me?
Well, it turns out I found a kindred spirit. If you know me, you know that I LOVE hats. I have a hat problem, you might say. I own well over 40 of them and rotate them on a regular basis. That brings us to the message she sent. This young lady was currently visiting and hiking around Yosemite National Park, and she loved collecting hats. Before her trip, she used a search engine for “Yosemite hats” to see what she would want to collect during her trip. One of my hats I had purchased and taken a picture of and uploaded to social media turned up on her search. And that was the hat that she wanted! She explained that she had been all over the park after hiking half dome, searching for this particular hat at every store she entered – but with no luck. So, she tracked me down based on the picture and messaged me to ask if I knew exactly where I purchased said hat in the past so that she could go get one herself.
A little creepy? Possibly. But you’ve got to admire her determination. As a fellow hat collector, I get it. I was happy to oblige and directed her to the Village Store next to Village Grill, telling her exactly where in the store to walk to find the row of hats – that hopefully it would still be there and in stock! She responded back and said, “YAY THANK YOUU SOOOOOO MUCH!! This made my day. I’m on a mission to get this hat haha! Have a good one!” and with that, she was gone.
I put the phone down and said to myself, “Wow, she really wants this hat! And yet I wonder… do I have that same kind of determination to want the far superior things of God?” Mission. Purpose. Drive. These are the kinds of words that should come to our mind when we think about our faith in Christ. Our spiritual walk is not merely a part of our life; it is the defining characteristic of every aspect of our lives! Jesus would teach in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness”. I think for many of us in our lives we would confidently say, “I seek the kingdom of God & his righteousness!” – but is it what we seek first? Is it our sole mission? Our life’s purpose? Our overarching drive?
Jesus would teach in Matthew 13:44-46 the following: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.”
How passionate are you to seek the kingdom of God? What would you trade for it? How hard would you search for it? These are the kinds of questions Jesus has intended to stir up in the minds of his listeners. These parables serve to show us the surpassing value of the kingdom in comparison to the things of this life. And yet, so many get caught up in chasing after things of infinite less value on this earth than to pursue the things that are from God. Our purpose, mission, and drive become carnal things, temporary things, worthless things.
My friends, is the kingdom our driving mission? To strive to abide in Christ and be a citizen of heaven? It is so easy to become distracted in this life with so many other things. The Hebrew author would state in Heb. 12:1-2, “Let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith.”
What are you truly seeking first? Is Jesus who you desire above all else? To dwell and live with him? Are we truly seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness? Or have we become entangled in the lesser things of this life; distracted and unwilling to search diligently for the things above? This is the moment that each of us must take personal spiritual inventory of our lives. When we wake up – what is the first thing on our minds? What consumes our thoughts throughout the day? What are our goals and choices in life orchestrated around? If the answer to these questions all pertain to merely temporary things of this world, we have lost our mission. However, if our true and first pursuit in this life is to attain that which is truly life from Jesus, everything changes. Our thoughts. Our habits. Our goals. Suddenly Jesus becomes the center, the why, and the motivation behind every decision that we make.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Jesus is not Lord at all unless he is Lord of all. May this be our mission in life. Our drive. Our purpose. The kingdom is always above everything else.
This has been season 6 episode 27 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast – and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together! A new episode is dropped each Friday of the week. If you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, give us a good rating, and tune in next week. Even more important, share the spiritual truths that we learned today with someone else. And more than anything my friends, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.
