A Different Perspective

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT

The Apostle Paul had a different perspective on life than most people. Instead of a bird's eye view, he had a God's eye view. 

Paul was a man who understood suffering and the benefit of it. Yes, the benefit of it! He realized that the results of suffering and hardship wrought a much greater reward of Christ-like character in us when we trust God through it all. Not the least of which are compassion, patience, and understanding. These are things for which we should be grateful. 

James 1:2-4 NLT reads,  "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance [patience] is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing."

Any opportunity to grow in the Lord is cause for "great joy".  Every time our faith is tested, our "endurance has a chance to grow". So, we can focus on the problems, the issues, the tests, the trials, the suffering... or we can have a different perspective. A God's eye view.

Prayer:

Father,

           Help us to not look at the troubles we can see now; but rather, to fix our gaze on the things that cannot be seen. Help us to see things through the Truth and Light of Your Word. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Perspective

16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT

I love what Pastor Tony Evans has to say about this passage.

If you have not yet experienced signs of aging, you will! But though our bodies grow older and decay, we believers are becoming strengthened in our inner person, which is where our treasure is (4:7). Believers should be growing spiritually younger as they grow physically older. We are being made fit for our future heavenly home, and this happens through a process that comes day by day.

In verse 17, Paul understands that negative circumstances have a positive effect when we trust and obey God through them.

If your tribulations seem long and heavy, you’re looking at the wrong thing. To put it another way, if all you see is what you see, then you do not see all there is to be seen! Paul is not saying we must close our eyes to the reality of our suffering; he’s saying we need to open our eyes by faith to unseen realities that will last forever. An eternal perspective gives the believer the ability to handle the struggles of this life.

Prayer:

Father,
           Thank You for reminding us to look for, see and embrace Your perspective on life and its trials. Help us to remember that ALL things work for our good, to build Christ-like character in us, and to learn to love as You love. Holy Spirit, keep us looking up, above our circumstances. Help us to never lose sight of eternity and to always look for Your touch in everything that touches our lives. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

A Change of Mind

 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ. And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It's because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn't long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.

Colossians 3:1-7 The Message Bible

You are probably aware of the saying, "It is a woman's prerogative to change her mind." What you may not know is that there are dozens of discussion groups about it - most of them asking for the definition of prerogative. Loosely defined, it's a right or privilege reserved for a specific individual or group of individuals with a certain rank or position. The dictionary lists several types of groups or individuals of rank, but the common denominator is that they are considered to have a higher status than the average Jane or Joe. They decide how things will be done. It's their prerogative. They tend to look at life from their vantage point and exercise their prerogatives accordingly. They think of themselves as "Large and in Charge!"

Now, before you're too hasty to agree that that sort of privilege is cool, let's re-read our text for today. So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't [...be] absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, .... See things from his perspective. 

Do you want to live life according to your prerogative? ...doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy? That is the way of death for your soul (verse 5). Or - will you do as James suggests in James 1:5? If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. You can't be wiser than God, so let's do life according to His Word. Let's do it from Christ's perspective. You know - Change our minds.

Prayer:

Father,
           We want to pursue those things over which Your Son presides. Give us focus, with eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart that hastens after You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

The Real Treasure

Sell what you have and give to those in need. This will fatten your purses in heaven! And the purses of heaven have no rips or holes in them. Your treasures there will never disappear; no thief can steal them; no moth can destroy them. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.

Luke 12:33-34 TLB

During the Christmas season, there are so many different emotions flying on a collision course with the world around us. Some people are like children, they can hardly wait and stars are in their eyes and they break into song at the drop of a hat or the jingle of a bell. Others are so sad, remembering the family member or friend who did not live out the year and they break into tears without warning. Still others are angry and frustrated with the stress of trying to buy something for everyone on their list while wondering how they're going to pay for that AND the house bills.

Let me encourage you to take a step back and just breathe in - big breath - and breathe out. Again. Breathe in, breathe out.

Have we lost sight? Perspective? For God so loved the world that He gave... (John 3:16). Jesus loved us so much that He came to earth (Luke 2) so He could lay down His life for us (John 10). Why?!? Because God loved us - we are His treasure - He came to Earth because that's where we are.

Where's your heart? What are your thoughts? Where will your heart and thoughts lead you? Are you selling your inheritance for worldly instant gratification or will you hold fast to the greatest treasure ever given to mankind?

Prayer:

Father,
           Open the eyes of our hearts - we want to see You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Not Me

Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, If you know? Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

Proverbs 30:4-5 NKJV

Have you ever noticed how many people when asked a question that begins with "Who did…" will respond with, "It wasn't me."  Often, it’s not even about anyone being in trouble or catching the blame. It’s just a simple quest for information - Who did whatever. Well, I got a new perspective on that today.

Have you ever had one of those days when nothing seems to go well? By mid-day, you’re asking yourself why you are where you are, doing what you’re doing because you don’t see how any of what you’re doing is working for anyone’s good. And doing this mundane, inane task can’t possibly have any eternal effect, etc…  That was the day I was having. And just when I was ready to be less than gracious about it – at just that precise moment, I received an e-mail anecdote about a woman who lost a contact lens.

The story's been around for years. You’ve probably read it before. The gist of the story was a lady, climbing a mountain, lost her contact lens, and couldn’t find it on her clothes or on the ledge where she was. She felt scared because she was halfway up the mountain and her vision was then blurry, so she prayed for God to help her find it. She did not find it where she dropped it, but she made it to the top anyway and came all the way back down the mountain without the lens. The rest of the story goes that at the base of the mountain, a climber in a different group jokingly asked if anyone had lost a contact lens because they’d found a contact lens being carried by an ant. The tale continues with the statement that her father was a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, “Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You.”

Now, to my knowledge, no one has proven that particular story to be true, but most of us could tell something similar in principle that HAS happened in our own life. And that’s where I got the new perspective… When we come face to face with the wonder-working, amazing faithfulness of God, we have to say, “It wasn’t me…”

Do you know who Agur is? Do you know his father, Jakeh? Me, either. Stick with me, I’m going somewhere with this. You’ll remember that names were given because of their meaning back in the Old Testament – well, Jakeh means 'pious – devout, moral, dutiful'. The ONLY mention of this devout, moral, dutiful man is that he was the father of Agur, and that is all that is known of him.

Agur means 'gatherer; or the collector' – I have no idea what he gathered or collected, and neither does anyone else because nothing is known of him beyond what is recorded in Proverbs, chapter 30. However, Agur and Jakeh are not just mentioned in that chapter; Agur wrote Proverbs, chapter 30. The chapter is subtitled, "The sayings of Agur", so maybe he just collected sayings and his form of riddles about things for which he didn’t know the answer.

I don’t want you to think he was having a tough day or questioning why he was where he was, doing what he was doing because he didn’t see how any of what he was doing was worth anything, but he wrote in verse 2, Surely I am more stupid than any man, and do not have the understanding of a man.

I'm sure he felt like that, but here’s the wonder-working, amazing faithfulness of God. Agur and his devout father, Jakeh, have a place in the book of Proverbs which is generally understood to be the book of wisdom to live by, contained in the living Word of God.

Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name? It wasn’t me…

So today, when I was asking myself why, I realized, it wasn’t me…  Thank God.

Prayer:

Father,

            Lots of times, I don't know why. I may not be able to see any good in it – I can’t eat it and it's awfully heavy. But, if You want me to, I will. Because when You looked for the perfect sacrifice to atone for my sin, it wasn’t me. And when the veil that separated us from You was stripped away, it wasn’t me who did it. But it was (and is) me who desperately needed a way to be cleansed from my sin. And it was (and is) me who was SO not worthy of Your mercy and Your grace. Father, if there is anything that can be done with these human hands to accomplish Your will, let it be me. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen

The Greatest Treasure

Sell what you have and give to those in need. This will fatten your purses in heaven! And the purses of heaven have no rips or holes in them. Your treasures there will never disappear; no thief can steal them; no moth can destroy them. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.
Luke 12:33-34 TLB

During the Christmas season, there are so many different emotions flying on a collision course with the world around us. Some people are like children, they can hardly wait and stars are in their eyes and they break into song at the drop of a hat or jingle of a bell. Others are so sad, remembering the family member or friend who did not live out the year and they break into tears without warning. Still others are angry and frustrated with the stress of trying to buy something for everyone on their list while wondering how they're going to pay for that AND the house bills.

Let me encourage you to take a step back and just breathe in - big breath - and breathe out. Again. Breathe in, breathe out.

Have we lost sight? Perspective? For God so loved the world that He gave... (John 3:16). Jesus loved us so much that He came to earth (Luke 2) so He could lay down His life for us (John 10). Why?!? Because God loves us - we are His treasure - He came to Earth because that's where we are.

Where's your heart? What are your thoughts? Where will your heart and thoughts lead you? Are you selling your inheritance for worldly instant gratification or will you hold fast to the greatest treasure ever given to mankind?

Prayer:

Father,
           Open the eyes of our hearts - we want to truly see You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen