What do you do; what is your occupation? “I am a plumber.” “I am an accountant.” “I go to school and play with my friends.” “I am a farmer…a teacher…a housewife…a student…a pastor.” This is typically the way we respond to one who inquires into our occupation. We tell them what occupies most of our time and what we consider our business to do. But suppose upon asking someone who they were and what they did, you received this answer: “I am a Christian. God’s purpose for me is to walk with Him in fellowship. Once I was lost and walking in darkness, but God found me and sent His Son to die and restore me to His fellowship. He even promised me eternal life. For this reason, I am very thankful and do all I can to please Him and work as His servant in every way I can to gather His people into His kingdom.” Perhaps you would think, “Well, of course. I am a Christian, too, but it is not such a big deal. I don’t need to explain that to everybody.”
But being a Christian is a big deal, and we ought to let it be known that our most important business is that of being a Christian. No matter what our earthly occupation is, in all our work and play, we are first of all Christians. If we as Christians are minding our business, our first thoughts when asked who we are and what we do will be thoughts relating to our faith. These thoughts should be “on your mind,” so to speak.
Our thoughts are very important. Even though we may be able to hide them from everyone else, they are very important because they define who we are (Prov. 23:7). In other words, you are what you think.
We noticed two responses. Clearly the second response comes from a spiritually minded person. The first response may also very well come from a spiritually minded person, but it suggests that there is a tendency towards worldly mindedness. We claim to be Christians. We are not our own but belong to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ. Our business is the kingdom of God. We must, therefore, be spiritually minded. “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).
This is no easy task, not even for students in seminary, or ministers, or even the Apostle Paul. Paul expresses this difficulty with these words: “that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that I do.” Peter had the same trouble; so much so that Jesus called him “Satan” when Peter insisted on thinking in terms of an earthly kingdom (Matt. 16:23).
We must expect the same frustrations. Spiritual struggle is a part of being spiritually minded. Each day we will wake up to the struggle in varying degrees, but we can rejoice knowing that our soul is alive and we can look forward to the day when sin will be banished from our life. As we struggle we must pray that in all the things we encounter, our minds will be turned by the Spirit towards God for guidance. We have assurance from God that these prayers will be answered and that God will give us spiritual minds. We read in the Belgic Confession that “the Holy Ghost kindleth in our hearts an upright faith, which embraces Jesus Christ, with all his merits, appropriates him, and seeks nothing more besides him.” (A. 22.)
Thankfulness to God is the fruit of this gift of salvation and faith, and is the manifestation of spiritual mindedness. This thankfulness can be expressed in many ways and ought to be the first thing that shows up when someone wants to know something about you. The next time someone asks what you do, may your first thoughts be related to your faith. Practice giving a response that reveals these thoughts. Perhaps you could respond: “I thank the Lord that…” or “God has given me the task of…” or “My work for the kingdom is…” May God come to mind in all your conversation. Here are some more examples: “I’ll see you tomorrow, the Lord willing.” “The Lord has blessed me with a good mark on my test…” “May God be with you…” In all things give thanks to God.