For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
– Phil 3:18-19
It is a heartbreaking reality that one can be “religious” or even part of a community yet live as an “enemy of the cross.” Paul recognises that the alternative to a wholehearted pursuit of Christ isn’t just a “lesser” life; it is a life that replaces the eternal with the temporal. When our ultimate aim shifts from Christ to our own comfort, our own desires, and our own “earthly things,” we have wandered off the path of maturity and onto the path of destruction.
To be an enemy of the cross is to live as if the sacrifice of Jesus wasn’t enough to satisfy our souls. It is to let our “belly”—our immediate, worldly cravings—become the god we serve. This is the great danger of a distracted heart: if Christ is not our number one priority, something else will inevitably take His place. Maturity, then, requires a vigilant guarding of our affections. We must constantly ask ourselves: Is my mind set on the things of this earth, or is it set on the One who bought me?
Prayer
Lord, give me eyes to see when my affections begin to drift toward earthly comforts and away from the cross. I don’t want to be an enemy of Your grace by living for my own appetites. May You be my only God and my greatest joy. Amen.
Meditation
Looking at your worries and your celebrations from this past week, do they reflect a mind “set on earthly things” or a mind captivated by the cross of Christ?