To be in relationship with our Lord, to be convicted of our sinful natures and to die unto ourselves is part and parcel of the sanctification (becoming Christ like) that occurs as we mature in our faith.
As Christians we can see the long story, we can appreciate the fact we are living eternity now. the ultimate reality is present (though incomplete) as our personal time in this life dwindles and the universe winds down to Christ's return.
The fact we are in the middle of a spiritual war that spills over into the physical world is lost to many.
If we were to see the horrible videos of the carnage/genocide in the Ukraine as a reflection of the carnage in the spiritual realm we might perk up! Just as people are murdered in real life the Father of Lies in conjunction with sinful men seeks to prevent our belief in God and at the time time kill us either spiritually/physically or both.
There is no neutral ground.
Christians in America for example have by and large fallen into the secular mindset. Many have become nominal, part-time Christians, thinking the faith to be just another activity in life. What can we get from it? We have a fake faith.
But at the same time there remains a remnant of faithful disciples who have not given into the evils of this world.
The battle is fierce.
To be in the fight involves putting on the Armor of God. Yet for many Christians this is too much of a commitment, meaning they would be required to give up the sins of the flesh they delight in. They would need to study God's Holy Word instead of entertainment or sports. How important is Christ to us really?
The Christian Mind (link) was a book written by Harry Blamires and published in 1963. Read an article about his obituary below.
"The obituary of Harry Blamires recently printed in the Times newspaper came as a shock. Not having heard of this writer for years, one assumed he had long passed away, but through he columns of this daily newspaper one learned that he had recently died, 21 November, aged 101 years and 15 days. The obituary was quite fascinating and reads as follows:
As the self-styled scourge of ‘trendy theologians’. Harry Blamires considered it a badge of honor when he was booed off stage by theology students at the University of Kent in the mid-1960s. With his fogeyish attire and his unreconstructed belief that the Church of England would be doomed if it tried to modernise, he made no concessions to the sensibilities of redbrick universities.." from the article: Harry Blamires and ‘The Christian Mind’
So we must be self-reflective and humble, we must ask ourselves how much have we surrendered to the Secular way of life?
In his book Harry Blamires breaks this concept down into six defining characteristics of the Christian mind: supernatural orientation, our awareness of evil, our conception of truth, our acceptance of authority, and our concern for the person, and its sacramental reality. As Blamire explains the supernatural orientation of the Christian mind means that the Christian “cultivates the eternal perspective . . . brings to bear upon earthly considerations the fact of Heaven and the fact of Hell.”
"Like Knows Like"
To understand and participate in our eternal perspective we must understand and seek glorification.
Romans 8:30
30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Paul shows us what this means in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11: 10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
"Like knows like" is seen by the fact that the Person of the Holy Spirit searches the deep things of God, meaning who knows a person better than the spirit of that person, in this case the Spirit of God the Father. The Person of the Holy Spirit is God.
1 John 3:1-3
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
For you and I to be able to see and be present to Christ we must be glorified. We are deep into that process now as we kill sin and focus on Christ. We must put to rest through Christ and the Holy Spirit: “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry . . . anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth."
Sadly all of theses sins describe many Christians today.
Our Secular Christian Culture
Christians behaving badly is front and center in our culture today. Are you one of them? Money, sex, and power destroy Christian discipleship in our celebrity culture. There is unending reports of Christians embezzling church funds, stories of Christians and Christian leaders who are unfaithful to their spouses, and news reports of Christian leaders bullying others for power and prestige.
No wonder the media and the public have largely dismissed Christianity as a force for good in America.
We must realize that only our glorified selves can meet the glorified Christ.
The question then becomes are we living our lives with that in mind in the here and now? Is your mind set on things above or are you a nominal Christian? Just as Christ pointed out to the people of his day and to the Scribes and Pharisees, we are failing. Jesus spoke to them in Matthew 15:8 with these words taken from Isaiah 29:13 “These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”