Gospel News · January - April 2018

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T
he core essence of the Christian life is “to
be spiritually minded”; and in that way of
being and thought alone there is “life and
peace”. Indeed, “if any have not the spirit of
Christ, he is none of His”. We are to have the
Lord Jesus living in us by His Spirit, thinking
and being as He was and is to this day. But we
compare these high ideals with our moment by
moment life lived in this world, and there
seems a worrying distance. We drop some-
thing; and are frustrated and irritated. We
take a wrong turning which results in a few
minutes added to our journey, and we mutter
unspiritual things in our mind or under our
breath. The person in front us at the super-
market checkout fusses around, can’t find
their debit card, asks the checkout cashier
irrelevant questions she can’t answer, and we
roll our eyes and struggle not to think unpleas-
ant things about them in our mind. We trip
over a child’s toy and again, tend to mutter
things we ought not. The driver in front dithers
at the traffic lights so that we can’t slip over,
and have to wait another turn before the end-
less red light, and we are frustrated and
grumpy. And this can become the stuff of life,
minute after minute, hour after hour, day after
day. In all too rare encounters with Jesus, per-
haps as we break bread, we can sense this
apparently chasmic distance between our mind
and His… and at best, throw ourselves upon His
grace to make up the vast distance.
But all this need not be so. He has won, and
He is eager to impart His Spirit to us. Not these
days in terms of miraculous gifts, but as His
mind, His way, His worldview, His Spirit within
ours. “The love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto
us” (Rom. 5:5). We are “sealed” and have
been given “the earnest of the Spirit in our
hearts” (2 Cor. 1:22). We are “strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man… to
know the love of Christ… according to His
power that works within us” (Eph. 3:16-20).
A far different mental life to that described in
our opening paragraph is really possible.
I could simply exhort you to be the more open
to the Spirit, and to more fully allow the Lord
Jesus to “dwell in our hearts by faith” (Eph.
Page
Editorial | Frustration ......................
The Bible ~ Inspired and Infallible ........
The Persecuted People ......................
“Submit Yourselves to God” .................
God’s Loving Kindness ........................
Uriah the Faithful Soldier of Israel ........
Evidence of the Crucifixion .................
Bible Education Centre, South Africa .....
On the Waiting List ..........................
The Value of Family Worship...............
Jerusalem Which Killeth the Prophets ....
Arise Above Your Difficulties ...............
The Acceptable Gift .........................
The Positive Life .............................
Think Right ....................................
Questions and Answers......................
The Unexpected ..............................
A New Year’s Message .......................
Aim at Efficiency .............................
“Be Not Ye Called Rabbi” ...................
Carelinks | China ............................
Carelinks | Georgia..........................
Carelinks | Italy .............................
Carelinks | Sicily .............................
Carelinks | Latvia ............................
Carelinks | Rwanda .........................
Carelinks | United Kingdom ................
Carelinks | Ukraine..........................
News from the Ecclesias
Congo ..........................................
Kenya ..........................................
Mauritius ......................................
Malawi .........................................
Nigeria
........................................
Rwanda ........................................
Trinidad........................................
Zambia.........................................
Zimbabwe .....................................
Contacts .......................................
Editorial | Frustration
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