In this busy life we're bombarded with a multitude of possible escapes from reality and worthless diversions that can cost us immeasurable precious time and it's not by coincidence. Nor are the number of possible substitutions for Godly ways, values and His truth that abound in the world we live in ... it's all by design.
It's all part of a very real plan to render us ineffective, immobilize us and keep us from recognizing our true identity and purpose. The attack is primarily aimed at our flesh because our flesh is the weakest part of our being. It's an increasingly cunning plan put in place and maintained by an enemy of our God whose jealousy leads him to want nothing less than to kill us - eternally. Sounds extreme right? Well it is extreme and it's also very real. So with all of the chaos, sin and intentional confusion employed against our successful walk as Christians, it's critical that we maintain our focus and continually work to sift our thoughts motives and actions through our Heavenly Fathers instructions and teachings. As the barrage against our success increases, It's imperative that we separate our hearts and minds from the world's values and teachings and focus on what our Lord has said and continues to say to us - remembering that He never has and never will change regardless of how much the world and its values change.
We're all exposed to the worlds values and social standards at one time or another and all of the pressure to be, do, buy, act and live in one particular manner or another. There are so many attitudes and things in the world around us that are so contrary to God's heart and values. As a Christian I find myself intent on unlearning what the world's taught me in order to replace it with Godly ways and thinking. So I find myself reviewing my thoughts, values and responses to things and weighing them against what I know of our Heavenly Father and His ways. It's a conscious effort and practice in establishing habits, thoughts, priorities and motivations that are increasingly against the grain of the thinking of the chaotic world around me. But at the same time they're becoming increasingly in tune with my Lord's heart and commandments. It's a process of continually sifting my life through the Word of my God. I'm not alone in my efforts so I'm sharing my thoughts in the hope that it might encourage someone else..
It's no secret and certainly no surprise that our God's thoughts and ways are so much different than those of our flesh. He's Spirit and the perfection of His holiness is something our flesh will never achieve. Our flesh with it's mortal weaknesses and desires is driven to seek out things that are temporal and self indulgent. Indeed our flesh itself is only temporary and predestined to die. But in it's selfishness, our flesh fails to recognize that it's the other part of our being - our spirit, that lives eternally and that may pay the price for sins of our flesh and that struggles in this moment to determine where it lives or dies eternally in the next. This life as we call it, is only the defining preface to the life that our God actually created us for. It was for an eternal life with Him - an intimate relationship with the Sovereign God Almighty Himself that He created us for. But the choice to fulfill that purpose or defy it ... He gave to us. And whether we recognize it consciously or not, we're responding to that choice - we're telling Him every moment of day what the response of our heart is to that choice ...
Our flesh contends with our Lord's purpose for creating us. Its selfish greed to fulfill its own lusts and desires strives for our attention and makes war against our spirit as our spirit struggles to evolve into a greater likeness of our God. But the good news is that this struggle will only last until our flesh meets its inevitable end. When our flesh returns to the dust from which it came, we'll struggle no more with it or its fatal priorities. But the potential bad news is that when that end comes, the choice for the eternal residence and fate of our spirit has already been cast and recorded - our moment of opportunity to make our choice will have ended with our flesh. By that time we will have already demonstrated by our lives what we value and what we give importance to. We will have already recorded our answer to our Lord's invitation and there'll be no redoes and no 2nd chances to relive our answer. We live out our response to our Lord's calling right now and it's with eternal eyes that our Father watches our struggles. It's with an eternal perspective, with the truth of the weight of this moment of decision that He witnesses our response. It's often even by our simple choices in this life that we demonstrate what we value and live for - each of them making a statement regarding the real truth of our heart. He sees it all more clearly and hears it more loudly than we may want to suffer to imagine. Everything we say, everything we do, every intent and every emotion is witnessed and recorded by the God who created us - all of it adding to our response.
These are sobering thoughts to hearts that have revelation of what's really at stake. Unfortunately, these thoughts may not necessarily be in the forefront of our minds every minute of every day while our actions, intentions and thoughts are speaking clear volumes to our Lord. I have to confess that I too struggle in my haste and weariness at times to remember to consider what it is by my choices in those moments that I'm saying to my King. I thank God for His grace and mercy! But truly, thoughts regarding the truth of His perspective are a core part of the basis that we should be using to determine what we allow ourselves to do, say and think at any moment of any given day. They should be a very big part of the determining factors regarding what I value, how I treat other people and how I spend my time. Remembering that as our precious Christ taught and the Father commanded, the two greatest commandments of our Father God are: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind" (Mat 22:37 NLV), and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mat 22:39 NLV) - these two things must be the first motivations and the first test in anything I might do, say or think.
To see this life as our God sees it, to have His perspective of it and live accordingly is key to our eternal survival (and possibly the survival of those around us who witness our example). He's given His perspective in His word and it's ministered to us through His Holy Spirit within us. But do we regard these things as a matter of life and death as they truly are? Do we actively listen and acknowledge the truth not just by our words, but by our lives? If we have His perspective, we have no choice but to give up the fears of our mortal flesh and focus on the much greater fear of losing the eternal life of our spirit based on that perspective if we're not living according the words of our Father. Thank God for His mercy in providing us with an arbiter who understands us and has already paid for the price of our failures! But still, the proof of our choice to be called His Children is before Him every moment of every day. He knows our hearts and our hearts are the driving force behind everything that comes out of our mouths and everything we endeavor to do. Truly, what are our hearts saying to the Sovereign Omnipotent God over all that exists by our choices? We will face the truth of that conversation with Him one day soon ...
I've pointed out all of these things as a sieve to set the stage to allow me to ask a few questions with our minds focused on these things before the Lord. Who is a hero and what's of greater value?:
The great orator who leads a large group of people? Or the unknown man on his knees silently praying with simple words for them righteously?
The strong warrior of many earthly battles? Or the one who's broken heart for the tears of an innocent child moves them to bring comfort?
The one who gets laughs from a crowd at the expense of another? Or the one who moves to share the scorn of the crowd and cover the shame of their victim?
The one who makes great pretense of his righteousness? Or the unrecognized person who humbly seeks God in sincerity and confesses failures and weakness?
The one who remains stoic preserving their social stature in the church during worship? Or the one who acknowledges the awesome greatness of God and worships with sincere, reverent abandon and only concern for doing justice to His greatness in their worship?
The one who seeks their own pleasure in the world? Or the one who consistently seeks with passion to bring a smile to His Holy face?
The one who seeks the recognition of men? Or the one content and grateful for their identity in Christ?
Who are our God's heroes and what does HE value? These same should be ours always and without question. But we can't hold them up if we don't know what they are ...
My own efforts in gaining His perspective and learning to live accordingly are still evolving by His grace. So please don't think that I judge anyone else. By His mercy and grace, He's chosen to overlook my own failures, so I have no desire to stand in judgment of anyone else. But honestly considered, our thoughts explored sincerely against what we've been blessed to know of our God may bring about changes to our thinking that adjust our course for greater success in our relationship with Him - and there is of course no greater goal to be desired or achieved!
A few more thoughts ...
As for pleasing my flesh - my doomed flesh will die anyway, so what does it matter if it's pleased. Lord, just allow my spirit to live forever in the presence of your glory.
As for pleasing men - to live in true reverent fear of my God allows me to live without fear in the presence of men. Having the true perspective of my Lord gives me greater fear of God than men. (They're all subject to the same judgment of God that I am and He is my omnipotent source for my every need)
Perspective = how we see things. Our perspective determines our values and our actions. Our effort to attain His, is our effort in agreeing with God to see them as He does - the way they truly are as determined by His sovereignty. Reacting according to His perspective = a matter of life and death ... ours.
We're all exposed to the worlds values and social standards at one time or another and all of the pressure to be, do, buy, act and live in one particular manner or another. There are so many attitudes and things in the world around us that are so contrary to God's heart and values. As a Christian I find myself intent on unlearning what the world's taught me in order to replace it with Godly ways and thinking. So I find myself reviewing my thoughts, values and responses to things and weighing them against what I know of our Heavenly Father and His ways. It's a conscious effort and practice in establishing habits, thoughts, priorities and motivations that are increasingly against the grain of the thinking of the chaotic world around me. But at the same time they're becoming increasingly in tune with my Lord's heart and commandments. It's a process of continually sifting my life through the Word of my God. I'm not alone in my efforts so I'm sharing my thoughts in the hope that it might encourage someone else..
It's no secret and certainly no surprise that our God's thoughts and ways are so much different than those of our flesh. He's Spirit and the perfection of His holiness is something our flesh will never achieve. Our flesh with it's mortal weaknesses and desires is driven to seek out things that are temporal and self indulgent. Indeed our flesh itself is only temporary and predestined to die. But in it's selfishness, our flesh fails to recognize that it's the other part of our being - our spirit, that lives eternally and that may pay the price for sins of our flesh and that struggles in this moment to determine where it lives or dies eternally in the next. This life as we call it, is only the defining preface to the life that our God actually created us for. It was for an eternal life with Him - an intimate relationship with the Sovereign God Almighty Himself that He created us for. But the choice to fulfill that purpose or defy it ... He gave to us. And whether we recognize it consciously or not, we're responding to that choice - we're telling Him every moment of day what the response of our heart is to that choice ...
Our flesh contends with our Lord's purpose for creating us. Its selfish greed to fulfill its own lusts and desires strives for our attention and makes war against our spirit as our spirit struggles to evolve into a greater likeness of our God. But the good news is that this struggle will only last until our flesh meets its inevitable end. When our flesh returns to the dust from which it came, we'll struggle no more with it or its fatal priorities. But the potential bad news is that when that end comes, the choice for the eternal residence and fate of our spirit has already been cast and recorded - our moment of opportunity to make our choice will have ended with our flesh. By that time we will have already demonstrated by our lives what we value and what we give importance to. We will have already recorded our answer to our Lord's invitation and there'll be no redoes and no 2nd chances to relive our answer. We live out our response to our Lord's calling right now and it's with eternal eyes that our Father watches our struggles. It's with an eternal perspective, with the truth of the weight of this moment of decision that He witnesses our response. It's often even by our simple choices in this life that we demonstrate what we value and live for - each of them making a statement regarding the real truth of our heart. He sees it all more clearly and hears it more loudly than we may want to suffer to imagine. Everything we say, everything we do, every intent and every emotion is witnessed and recorded by the God who created us - all of it adding to our response.
These are sobering thoughts to hearts that have revelation of what's really at stake. Unfortunately, these thoughts may not necessarily be in the forefront of our minds every minute of every day while our actions, intentions and thoughts are speaking clear volumes to our Lord. I have to confess that I too struggle in my haste and weariness at times to remember to consider what it is by my choices in those moments that I'm saying to my King. I thank God for His grace and mercy! But truly, thoughts regarding the truth of His perspective are a core part of the basis that we should be using to determine what we allow ourselves to do, say and think at any moment of any given day. They should be a very big part of the determining factors regarding what I value, how I treat other people and how I spend my time. Remembering that as our precious Christ taught and the Father commanded, the two greatest commandments of our Father God are: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind" (Mat 22:37 NLV), and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mat 22:39 NLV) - these two things must be the first motivations and the first test in anything I might do, say or think.
To see this life as our God sees it, to have His perspective of it and live accordingly is key to our eternal survival (and possibly the survival of those around us who witness our example). He's given His perspective in His word and it's ministered to us through His Holy Spirit within us. But do we regard these things as a matter of life and death as they truly are? Do we actively listen and acknowledge the truth not just by our words, but by our lives? If we have His perspective, we have no choice but to give up the fears of our mortal flesh and focus on the much greater fear of losing the eternal life of our spirit based on that perspective if we're not living according the words of our Father. Thank God for His mercy in providing us with an arbiter who understands us and has already paid for the price of our failures! But still, the proof of our choice to be called His Children is before Him every moment of every day. He knows our hearts and our hearts are the driving force behind everything that comes out of our mouths and everything we endeavor to do. Truly, what are our hearts saying to the Sovereign Omnipotent God over all that exists by our choices? We will face the truth of that conversation with Him one day soon ...
I've pointed out all of these things as a sieve to set the stage to allow me to ask a few questions with our minds focused on these things before the Lord. Who is a hero and what's of greater value?:
The great orator who leads a large group of people? Or the unknown man on his knees silently praying with simple words for them righteously?
The strong warrior of many earthly battles? Or the one who's broken heart for the tears of an innocent child moves them to bring comfort?
The one who gets laughs from a crowd at the expense of another? Or the one who moves to share the scorn of the crowd and cover the shame of their victim?
The one who makes great pretense of his righteousness? Or the unrecognized person who humbly seeks God in sincerity and confesses failures and weakness?
The one who remains stoic preserving their social stature in the church during worship? Or the one who acknowledges the awesome greatness of God and worships with sincere, reverent abandon and only concern for doing justice to His greatness in their worship?
The one who seeks their own pleasure in the world? Or the one who consistently seeks with passion to bring a smile to His Holy face?
The one who seeks the recognition of men? Or the one content and grateful for their identity in Christ?
Who are our God's heroes and what does HE value? These same should be ours always and without question. But we can't hold them up if we don't know what they are ...
My own efforts in gaining His perspective and learning to live accordingly are still evolving by His grace. So please don't think that I judge anyone else. By His mercy and grace, He's chosen to overlook my own failures, so I have no desire to stand in judgment of anyone else. But honestly considered, our thoughts explored sincerely against what we've been blessed to know of our God may bring about changes to our thinking that adjust our course for greater success in our relationship with Him - and there is of course no greater goal to be desired or achieved!
A few more thoughts ...
As for pleasing my flesh - my doomed flesh will die anyway, so what does it matter if it's pleased. Lord, just allow my spirit to live forever in the presence of your glory.
As for pleasing men - to live in true reverent fear of my God allows me to live without fear in the presence of men. Having the true perspective of my Lord gives me greater fear of God than men. (They're all subject to the same judgment of God that I am and He is my omnipotent source for my every need)
Perspective = how we see things. Our perspective determines our values and our actions. Our effort to attain His, is our effort in agreeing with God to see them as He does - the way they truly are as determined by His sovereignty. Reacting according to His perspective = a matter of life and death ... ours.
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