Spiritual Necessities

David Eldridge

We are truly Jesus’ disciples when we follow His teachings as laid forth in the New Testament. There are some things that Jesus emphasized greatly during His ministry here upon the earth. These are things we should see as being spiritual necessities, so we study.

Inward Righteousness. In Matthew 5:20 Jesus said, “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Jesus here states a spiritual necessity – that our righteousness must be more that which the scribes and Pharisees possessed. What kind of righteousness did they possess? In Matthew 23:1-3 we see that it was an outward righteousness only and not one that comes genuinely from the heart. They appeared to others to be righteous, but in truth were not. Jesus then, in Matthew 5:20 is saying that we must demonstrate a righteousness that begins within and then shines forth to those around us, not a hypocritical righteousness. Let us see our great need to possess an inward righteousness.

A Childlike Spirit. Yet another spiritual necessity can be found in Matthew 18:3. There Jesus says, “Assuredly I say unto you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” We see that we must possess a childlike spirit in order to be pleasing to our master. It seems that when we are young we can’t wait to grow up, however when we are grown up it would do us good to emulate some of the qualities of little children. We need to have the humility, trust, open mind, obedient spirit, and innocence that children possess. Let us seek to develop these things more fully in our life that we might be what the Lord would desire us to be.

Repentance. In Luke 13:3 Jesus states, “Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.” Jesus here teaches another spiritual necessity – that of repentance. Repentance defined is a change of mind that demonstrates itself in a change of life. You see you were going down the wrong path, you are sorry for it, you decide not to do it any longer and then you march forward on the right path. This is the duty of all who would be pleasing in the eyes of God (Acts 17:30). Jesus demands that we must repent and that the repentance be genuine and long lasting.