Heavenly Mindedness (23)

 

Continuing our reflections on Geerhardus Vos’s Message on “Heavenly Mindedness” from Hebrews 11:9 – 10:

 

“It [faith] does not first need the storms and stress that invade to quicken its desire for such things [being joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, mingling with the spirits of the righteous made perfect]. Being the sum and substance of all the positive gifts of God to us in their highest form, heaven is of itself able to evoke in our heart’s positive love, such absorbing love as can render us at times forgetful of the earthly strife. In such moments the transcendent beauty of the other shore and the irresistible current of our deepest life lift us above every regard of wind or wave. We know that through weather fair or foul our ship is bound straight for its eternal port.”  G. Vos.

 

In a previous post I wrote: “… our experiences of God are not all the same, while they do have overlaps and commonalities, they are not the same in every respect – yet we all seem to have a propensity to live as if my experience must be your experience…I want to point this out now, otherwise we run the risk of thinking that our experience of Hebrews Chapter 11 needs to be everyone’s experience of Hebrews Chapter 11, that our experience of “the great cloud of witnesses” must be everyone’s experience of “the great cloud of witnesses.””

 

We all ought to experience Hebrews Chapter 11 and we all ought to experience “the great cloud of witnesses,” but we need not all have the same experience, the same flavor, the same exact dynamic. There will be overlaps, there will be similarities – but there will also be complementary distinctions. I’m making a point of this because of what Vos says above, “It [faith] does not first need the storms and stress that invade to quicken its desire for such things.”

 

Is Vos correct when he says above, “heaven is of itself able to evoke in our heart’s positive love, such absorbing love as can render us at times forgetful of the earthly strife”? Is this possible?

 

Let’s please note that Vos tells us that faith “does not need the storms and stress” of life to drive us to our heavenly vision and home and way of living. The fact that faith does not need such things does not mean that faith does not use such things. Let’s also note that Vos says that “such absorbing love” can make us “at times” unaware, as it were, of the conflicts of life on earth. While heavenly-mindedness envelops our lives and increasingly becomes our biosphere, and while there are times when we may be restfully unaware of the conflicts we have within our souls and out in the world, Vos views these “times” as interludes, respites, and nowhere does he, as far as I am aware, portray the life of faith as being a life separated from internal and external conflict.

 

In fact, considering the context of Vos’s text (Hebrews Chapter 11), Vos simply could not portray heavenly-mindedness as a life divorced from conflict because this chapter, as much of the entire epistle of Hebrews, is embedded in the conflict between heaven and rebellious earth, between life and death, between sin and grace, and between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of God. As Jesus says (John 16:33), “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

 

Paul writes (Romans 8:18), “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.” Peter says (1 Peter 2:21, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps…” Peter styles himself (1 Peter 5:1) as a “witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed.”

 

The ways of God within a human soul are shrouded in mystery and it is foolish to think that the dynamics of our individual experiences will be exactly the same, including their sequencing. Consider the diverse ways in which Jesus Christ engaged people in the Gospels. Ponder the perspectives of the four Gospels. Think about the Epistles, how diverse they are in structure and subject matter. The 150 psalms present worship and relationship to God in myriad dimensions.

 

Of course, there is a mutuality in all of the above, and it is the Triune God revealing Himself in Spirit and in Truth through the many-membered Body of Christ.

 

Some of us are driven to Christ by adversity, and some of us are attracted to Christ by truth and beauty and goodness. Some of us come to Christ through a deep conviction of sin, and others of us come to Christ with a deep hunger to know love and purpose. We come to Jesus Christ in myriad ways; Jesus told Nicodemus that a man must be born again, while He told the Woman at the Well that He had living water for her to drink. Yet, as we all follow on to know Christ Jesus we will, in some fashion, all come to know the hideousness of sin, while also experiencing the truth, beauty, and goodness that is in our Lord Jesus Christ with its love and purpose. We will all, I think, see the wickedness of the present age while also being enveloped by the glory of the Age to come. This, at least, will be ours if we are growing in Christ. I cannot say what will be ours if we remain infants.

 

Vos writes, “In such moments the transcendent beauty of the other shore and the irresistible current of our deepest life lift us above every regard of wind or wave.” An eye for the beauty of the other shore must be cultivated. By God’s grace we do this through God’s Word, prayer, fellowship with the saints, obedience to Jesus Christ, meditation, denying ourselves, loving others, worship…looking unto Jesus…and so much more. Christ becomes our Way of Life, living in communion with the saints becomes our Way of Life. This is not the seed which falls on shallow ground and makes a big show, only to fall away when times get heard (Mark 4:16 – 17). This is the life which cultivates the soil, receives the Word, and knows that in Jesus Christ alone there is eternal life and purpose (John 6:68).

 

Our passage quoted above concludes with, “We know that through weather fair or foul our ship is bound straight for its eternal port.”  Insecure people cannot grow much, for their insecurity makes themselves the focus of their lives; their uncertainty debilitates them. When we come to see the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ, the completeness of His Atonement, the vastness of His love for us, the purity of His reconciliation, the Divine work of justification and the promise of God’s ongoing work of sanctification within us – we can say with Vos, “Through weather fair or foul, my ship is bound straight for its eternal port.”

 

In this assurance we can pursue heavenly-mindedness, in this confession we can witness to others, in this freedom we can die to ourselves and live to Christ and for others.