My Bible study this week has been all about true perspective. I should be living my life from a God's-eye view; instead though, most of the time, I choose to spend my life from a man's-eye view.
That's like God allowing you to come reside in His beautiful mountain top mansion and spending all of your time in the bassement complaining about how you can't see anything. Get out of the basement! God has released us from the prison of our feeble minds, He has unlocked the door! He invites us to come up into His house and claim what is, as heirs, rightly ours!
Our Father has given us a beautiful mansion with the most breathtaking view in the Universe! Allow Him to show you things from His perspective; view all your life, all your trials, your joys, your relationships, dissapointments, apprehensions, anxieties, loss, lonliness, desires...weigh them against the eternity that God has gifted you. John Henry Jowett says "That we are to lie forever with the Lord is a prospect that should fill our life with quiet and fruitful amazement. To have that life in front of us will enable us to set all things in true perspective and to observe their true proportions."
Lord, for so long I've allowed myself to live inside these walls for fear of what was outside them. But while I may be missing all the pain and disappointment, all the risk and challenge...these things are temporary. I am also missing out on the eternal: the joy and hopeful expectancy, all the reward!
Peeking through the small window of salvation that I built in my walls of confinement, barely seeing the view that you've given me, was never your intention. Instead, I am to open the door that You have unlocked, climb the many stairs to the very top of Your mansion, stand by Your side as rightful heir and enjoy all the benefits of being a child of God! I am to take in and enjoy the breathtaking view of Our Father; see all as He sees it.
2 Corinthians 5:17 in the Amplified Bible says, "Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!" What man then, after being changed completely, after seeing all that God has to offer, would return to that dusty little basement window? What man, cured of eternal blindness, would wish himself unaltered? What mother after giving birth would ask that it be returned to her womb?
We cannot unlearn things, we cannot unsee them! Once God has revealed Himself to us, allowed us to see all His glory, we are then held to a higher standard. We are to live according to the knowledge that we have received. Kay Arthur states, "God doesn't tell us to work for our salvation; He tells us to work out our salvation. We are to carry out to completion that which God works in us...to fall short of the grace of God is for you to fail to appropriate all that God has for you!" We have a responsibility to live a life full of joy, love, peace, patience, humbleness, kindness and hope! These are attributes of God himself! It is not a responsibility for us to fulfill, out of our own sinfullness and tainted hearts; "these, then, are some of the hopes kindled and inspired by Jesus Christ our Lord. What He kindles He will keep burning(John Henry Jowett)." "Consequently, when it comes to a life of obedience and service, even the desire and the power to obey and to serve God come from Him...Our motivation to live for Him comes from Him. And our ability to do what He desires comes from Him. It is all of grace (Kay Arthur)!"
Lord, I thank you that this study has served as a catalyst for change. I feel my heart and my mind turning slowly away from their prvious focus, turning to You. Help me not forget the truths I've learned but to hold them in my heart and use them often.
You are life abundant.
You are freedom.
You are deep, passionate love.
You are true perspective.
You are hope.
That's like God allowing you to come reside in His beautiful mountain top mansion and spending all of your time in the bassement complaining about how you can't see anything. Get out of the basement! God has released us from the prison of our feeble minds, He has unlocked the door! He invites us to come up into His house and claim what is, as heirs, rightly ours!
Our Father has given us a beautiful mansion with the most breathtaking view in the Universe! Allow Him to show you things from His perspective; view all your life, all your trials, your joys, your relationships, dissapointments, apprehensions, anxieties, loss, lonliness, desires...weigh them against the eternity that God has gifted you. John Henry Jowett says "That we are to lie forever with the Lord is a prospect that should fill our life with quiet and fruitful amazement. To have that life in front of us will enable us to set all things in true perspective and to observe their true proportions."
Lord, for so long I've allowed myself to live inside these walls for fear of what was outside them. But while I may be missing all the pain and disappointment, all the risk and challenge...these things are temporary. I am also missing out on the eternal: the joy and hopeful expectancy, all the reward!
Peeking through the small window of salvation that I built in my walls of confinement, barely seeing the view that you've given me, was never your intention. Instead, I am to open the door that You have unlocked, climb the many stairs to the very top of Your mansion, stand by Your side as rightful heir and enjoy all the benefits of being a child of God! I am to take in and enjoy the breathtaking view of Our Father; see all as He sees it.
2 Corinthians 5:17 in the Amplified Bible says, "Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!" What man then, after being changed completely, after seeing all that God has to offer, would return to that dusty little basement window? What man, cured of eternal blindness, would wish himself unaltered? What mother after giving birth would ask that it be returned to her womb?
We cannot unlearn things, we cannot unsee them! Once God has revealed Himself to us, allowed us to see all His glory, we are then held to a higher standard. We are to live according to the knowledge that we have received. Kay Arthur states, "God doesn't tell us to work for our salvation; He tells us to work out our salvation. We are to carry out to completion that which God works in us...to fall short of the grace of God is for you to fail to appropriate all that God has for you!" We have a responsibility to live a life full of joy, love, peace, patience, humbleness, kindness and hope! These are attributes of God himself! It is not a responsibility for us to fulfill, out of our own sinfullness and tainted hearts; "these, then, are some of the hopes kindled and inspired by Jesus Christ our Lord. What He kindles He will keep burning(John Henry Jowett)." "Consequently, when it comes to a life of obedience and service, even the desire and the power to obey and to serve God come from Him...Our motivation to live for Him comes from Him. And our ability to do what He desires comes from Him. It is all of grace (Kay Arthur)!"
Lord, I thank you that this study has served as a catalyst for change. I feel my heart and my mind turning slowly away from their prvious focus, turning to You. Help me not forget the truths I've learned but to hold them in my heart and use them often.
You are life abundant.
You are freedom.
You are deep, passionate love.
You are true perspective.
You are hope.
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