Alena Kramer

Last summer I read a book called “The Mind of Christ” by T. W. Hunt; it was an extremely challenging book and offered many exercises on transforming your thoughts and actions to align with Christ’s. One way that I have trained my mind to become more like Christ’s is through having an eternal perspective. Eternal perspective means we don’t worry so much about what moth and rust destroy, but rather we care more about what’s on God’s mind (Matthew 6). This kingdom principle of setting your treasures above is repeated over and over again in scriptures, yet I never knew what to do with it. So, I tried cutting out all that I felt my ‘flesh’ enjoyed or desired. And for some reason, this was making me really depressed, and I felt it was not glorifying God. But, then I realized eternal perspective doesn’t mean not caring about the small things in life or our fun desires, it means not focusing on the insignificant— but focusing on transforming the insignificant to significant (meaning glorifying Jesus). For example: A seemingly innocent worry/desire about what I am going to wear can quickly mutate into a fashion obsession, leading to envy and discontentment with what I own. This obsession would be the perverted version of the neutral desire to look good/fashionable. But transforming this desire into one that worships God would look like dressing modestly which leads to contentment and glory. However, if there are desires that cannot be transformed we must learn to abandon them quickly. Above all else glorify God, for this is why you are here.