O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. Ps. 92:5, 6.

All men in the world face a serious crisis. It has to do with the state of their minds. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). Time and again the Scriptures call upon us to exercise a sober mind. This does not mean a long face or a pessimistic outlook. It means a serious mind, a mind that is aware of the great issues. All too often superficiality and triviality describe the lives of men and women.

Christ calls on us to love God with all our minds. There is nothing more calamitous than the failure to think straight on the Word of God, or even not to think at all. People who fail to think straight will sooner or later fail to walk straight. Most of today's reading material and public entertainment is sheer trash. We are not really a thinking people any more. The whole cult of taking it easy and being entertained is unworthy of the mind God has given us.

How do we survive the final movements and crises when the powers of evil threaten to engulf the earth? One of the objectives of the remnant church is to develop mature Christians who can think straight, who can think for themselves. "Finishing the work" is a phrase that has come to be little more than a cliche. But the work of God cannot be finished by professed Christians who still wear the mental and spiritual garments of childhood. A church that is not able to produce mentally, emotionally, and spiritually mature members is in grave moral and spiritual danger.

We need to open our minds to receive all the truth God has for us, just as we open our windows to let in fresh air. But open windows need screens on them.

Let us nerve our minds on affirmatives from God's Word. We become invincible by virtue of our inner strength, by developing the mind of Christ. God pity us if we have only that which is frivolous and shallow to live by. Let us face the final conditions in our world with a poised, mature, and spiritual mind. The world will be not comfortable place to live in. The preparation time is now.