Unless you are a firmly faith-centered person, the mental aspect of the application of Jesus’ instruction to your life would be difficult. In Romans 8, Paul explained that people either live according to the flesh or according to the spirit. For those who live by the flesh, much of what Jesus taught will seem peculiar, and like a complete reversal of the norm.
Using Paul’s words, the “flesh” is hostile to God. Even though the spirit sings when in accordance with God’s will, the body — which looks out for itself, does not understand how service to God via service to others could ever benefit itself.
The Meek Inherit the Earth
Our history books are filled with conquerors — Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, people with power who claimed land. Based on what we know about life in the flesh in the world, what chance does a meek person have against an assertive one? Yet Jesus tells us that the meek shall inherit the earth.
Without faith, it might be genuinely difficult to set the mind to believe that a meek spirit will garner more than an aggressive person can take. However it is true; it is true because it is not the meek spirit which prevails over the aggressive person, it is God, on the meek spirit’s behalf.
Despite how powerful leaders, armies and territory lines in the world act, everything of the world takes place on an earth which belongs to the Lord, who created it. It is His to distribute. Recall Matthew 20:1 in which Jesus used the analogy of the kingdom of heaven as the master of a house and people of the earth as the hired laborers of that house. The house, the land, belongs to the master — to the Lord, but He has hired us to tend it. Here on earth we have the freedom to labor with freewill, but our freewill here does not equate with ownership over that which we exert our freewill.
Therefore the aggressive, the powerful, the bold may make claims — often brutal claims, they are temporary and can be resisted or overcome by the meek of spirit through the strength and will of God.
On a daily basis in our present, the practical application of this idea is less belief that one can conquer a country and more the belief that one can conquer the innate urge to aggressively pursue — in a manner which is opposite the manner of Jesus, what the body wants via the strength that is the faith that God will provide, comprehensively all that one needs (Matthew 6:8; 6:33).
The tenacious faith of a meek spirit is power unmatched by the mightiest of the world!
Not To Be Served But To Serve
Celebrity culture has accelerated so much that the proverbial “Jones’” are the idols of society. People attract the attention by, essentially, regurgitating every gaudy thing they posses, every popular association they have, and every materialistic thought that they think — all over the masses. Such deceptively-shiny displays may qualify a person for superiority in the world but are inferior in the Kingdom of God.
Many of the eyes in the world are set on the metaphorical thrones in the world, but God’s eyes are on the servers rather than the served. Jesus’ words encourage us to switch our priorities, to re-determine whether we will endeavor to climb the ranks of the world or of the Kingdom of God.
Again, it would be difficult for a non-believer to understand how humility and service could possibly elevate a person. ‘Descend to ascend’ is an oxymoron in the world, but is the celebrated route in, to the Kingdom of God.
The apostle Paul self-described himself a slave of Jesus Christ, Romans 1:1. He dedicated all that he had, all that he was, quantifiable and not, to service of the Kingdom of God. The only “thing” Paul had, consistently, were the chains he wore because he refused to abandon the lifestyle which made him not famous, not rich, but productive in service to the Lord.
Are we likely to become vagabonds for the faith as Paul did?
Set the mind to become a vagabond for Christ like Paul, a servant of the Kingdom of God above, in place of any other title the world would value. Humble here is heroic there and in heart — service to the Kingdom of God through effortful compassion on His children, is the actually-shiny display we inadvertently present as the result of our life. It may be unnoticed by people — and all the better for it (Matthew 6:2-4), but it is notable to God.
Give to Receive
In Luke 6:38 Jesus introduced a concept contrary to how the world seemingly works: distributed to you is that which you distribute to others. A non-believer or someone weak in faith will not accept this concept. How can you pour and fill your cup at the same time?
Worldwide, societies have systems of exchange — we understand and accept the “this for that” system because it is immediate and tangible; it requires zero or a negligible amount of faith.
Jesus’ ministry introduced, revealed the system of exchange God established. This system of exchange may not seem immediate or tangible and will require a considerable amount of faith. The system of exchange of the Kingdom of God runs concurrently with the system of exchange of the world and therefore, it can be difficult to set the mind to hold fast to the latter when the former exerts itself over the world that we live in.
But we must — we must because money and material is limited and liable to disintegrate, to be taken, to lose value. Conversely, when we distribute what we have been blessed with — funds, time, effort, provision, mercy, whatever we have that someone else lacks, God arranges that those things are redistributed back to us in a consistent flow reinforced, upheld, and ensured by God. Thus we are able to pour out to others while God causes our cup to run over.
Our faith in God must be strong enough to withstand the spiritual effort of complete dependence on God. We must be able to give that which is tangible and simultaneously expect, intangibly, that equal measure of that which was given will essentially — boomerang, return back to us. God’s system is flawlessly functional — operates without oversight, but is entirely dependent on selfless generosity. The windows of heaven will pour down for you blessing until there is no more need (Malachi 3:10); heaven is abundant with provision, but are we abundant with the selfless generosity that causes those windows to be opened? We must set our mind to adapt to the system of the Kingdom of God, to inspire, to encourage, to enable our body-in-the-world to live in alignment with the eternal way.
To live in accordance with the spirit will require effort. Jesus’ instruction, God’s design, is so different from the instruction and design of the world we are used to… of the world our bodies innately affiliate themselves with. But our bodies are temporary vessels of an eternal spirit — thus they should not be allowed to dictate our mindset. The spirit, the way of the spirit, supersedes so completely that it renders the body’s way inevitably, fast-approaching, obsolete. If we live by the spirit now, we can enter the Kingdom of God with grace and understanding of how it operates — a cog familiar and productive in its machine!
But also, and pertinent to the here and now, adapted to the way of the Spirit while on earth is to be blessed by the Spirit while on earth. Set the mind on the spirit, on Jesus, and have life, and more abundantly (John 10:10).