"Things above"

​When reading the story of Corrie ten Boom, who hid Jews from the Nazis, I find myself thinking: "If only she hadn't opened the door to the man who betrayed her, she would not have been arrested. She could have stayed in her home, safe with her family." Perhaps I have been looking at this story with earthly eyes. What if Corrie's arrest and imprisonment were God's plan all along? God needed missionaries to go to the Ravensbrück  concentration camp and share the Gospel with the many women who were facing certain death.

Although the cost was high (Corrie's father, sister, brother, and nephew died), Corrie's prayer was: "Lord Jesus, I offer myself for Your people. In any way. Any place. Any time." She had "set" her "affection on things above."

When suffering, trials, afflictions, and persecution come our way, James 1:2 tells us to "Count it all joy." This is difficult when we have an earthly mindset, but when our eyes are "set . . . on things above," we learn that trials and joy are not incompatible. Third John 1:4 tells us the greatest joy is "to hear that my children walk in truth." While we do not enjoy the suffering, we can find great joy when God uses it for His glory!

The danger is in becoming too attached to the "things on the earth." "When we focus on earthly things, our eyes slip from the 'things above'" (L. Hoover). When that happens, we need to refocus and "set" (an action word) our mind on "things above." This will require laying down things, plans, ideas, and opinions that are not part of God's plan and submit to His plans and ideas. When we do this, the songwriter tells us that "the things of earth will grow strangely dim."

Every possible trial to the child of God is a masterpiece of strategy of the Captain of His salvation for His good.

—Jamieson-Fausset-Brown