Soberness of Mind is the Fruit of Walking in Light of Truth

I was recently studying passages in the book of Matthew chapter 10. Over the last couple of days, I have been meditating on verses 27 and 28 in context of the chapter.

²⁷ What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.²⁸ And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Christ was speaking to His disciples which is the equivalent of Him speaking to all of us today who seek to serve and please Him as our Lord and Savior. To walk with GOD, we have to be sober minded, which means spiritually minded. This involves having priorities based on consideration for others and the long-term effects of our actions, even into eternity, rather than selfish motives aimed at immediate gratification. People generally think along the lines of the latter. Here are a few examples, which are not even spiritual, of how people live in the insanity of carnal and selfish thinking.

Think about how children sometimes disregard their parents while wearing the clothes their parents put on their backs and with the strength from food provided by their parents. These children are living by the care given by their parents and then have the audacity to show higher regard for other things including their other parent dependent friends. Am I saying children are insane? Yes…some of them most certainly are. Merriam Webster defines insane as having a severely disordered state of mind. Many children have ended up in dangerous situations out in the streets because they refused to obey a curfew or clean up after themselves. That’s a disordered state of mind producing severe consequences. There are parallels here with GOD and adults that say people age but don’t necessarily get their mind in order or mature. I will cover that in conclusion after another example that should just be common sense dealing with adults as the subject.

Speaking of adults, let us weigh their sanity. There are many adults that believe as long as you have enough money or gold you can buy all the food and water you need to survive. However, many of these same people earn their money from sources that are destroying the earth which provides the food and water they later plan to purchase. How about the business leaders focused on reducing or eliminating the expense of a workforce for higher profits by investing in robotics and/or outsourcing work to other countries where they can pay extremely low wages, with no regard to the fact that they are very often destroying the purchasing power of the people that make up their customer base. The darkness has blinded people to the extent that they are bringing about their own demise.  

In the passages I shared earlier, Christ is giving counsel to correct disordered thinking in His disciples and in us today. We should always hold GOD in the highest regard, in every dimension of our lives. Why? …Because GOD is the life in our soul, the light in our consciousness, the very power that enables us to know that we are. Look at what happened to prideful King Nebuchadnezzar when he fell to recognize that all he was he owed to GOD. Christ is saying here that no one has the ability to affect your life to the extent that GOD does, so you should dread the consequences He can impose above all other consequences. You should also be mindful that no one can reward you to the extent that GOD can, so you should always seek His favor above that of people.