In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. At the end of the age, God will create a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away. (Genesis 1:1; Revelation 21:1)
The whole universe is God’s.
Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine. (Job 41:11)
The world is Mine, and all it contains. (Psalm 50:12)
God knows, creates, and controls, everything from the beginning to the end.
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, “My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.” (Isaiah 46:10)
When we grasp, even a little, who God is, when we see the big picture, we can put things in perspective.
In the big picture, God brings glory to those who believe. In our daily lives, God promises He is making us into the image of His Son.
Determine to look at the big picture. The troubles of this world cannot compare.
~~~
Read Job 38-41! God gives Job the big picture!
God asked Jonah if Jonah had reason to be angry. Jonah: “i have good reason to be angry, even to death” (Jonah 4:9).
Whoa!
Last week, Pressing on Together was about me-centered versus God-centered points of view (See Point of View).
Jonah is a great example of me-centeredness.
You know what happened. God told Jonah to preach to the Ninevites, but Jonah fled. God intervened (!), Jonah repented from the belly of the fish, and then Jonah did what God commanded. But Jonah was furious that God saved Jonah’s enemies, the hated gentile Ninevites.
God asked Jonah if Jonah had reason to be angry and Jonah was still furious. “Mad enough to die.”
Well…we know that Jonah was a sign of Jesus’ death and resurrection. (Matthew 12:39-41).
But we don’t know if Jonah ever repented of his anger that God saved the Ninevites.
The question for us: when we are very angry (about whatever), are we able to get out of our me-centeredness, hear God’s point of view, and repent?
It is so easy to let our emotions run ahead of our minds, and stay there. And it can be difficult to stop, take stock, hear our Lord, confess, and walk according to the Spirit and now the flesh.
I am so grateful that God is working in us not only to want to do His will but also to actually do His will (Philippians 2:13).
Father, please help me, help us, listen to You when I, when we, are “mad enough to die.”
~~~
P.S. Here is more encouragement. After Jonah’s initial rebellion, God still used him! (See Encouragement)
We see the world through our own points of view. “You are the window through which you see the world.”
For the self-righteous, narcissist, and self-centered, it is me-centered. “My truth.” “How does this affect me?” “Me, Myself, and I.” They are the main characters in their own play.
For the Christian
For the Christian, as we grow in the Lord, we know His truth more and more, and increasingly see the world through God’s word, through sanctified spiritual eyes. We increasingly want to see ourselves, our situations, and the world, through God’s eyes, with eternity in mind.
In our relationships with others, we are more apt to consider their points of view. We are more apt to feel compassion, empathy, and learn from others.
We have the responsibility to recognize when we are thinking/feeling/acting from our own me-centered point of view and deliberately seek our Lord’s guidance. For example: “I am really really REALLY angry.” We must learn how to stop (sometimes that isn’t easy!) and ask the Lord for help. And then do what He says! And then, confess.
This is a process.
Our role in developing a God-centered point of view is to:
- Study God’s word. Reflect on His word. Apply His word to our lives. Believe Him!
- Pray.
- Ask ourselves: What does God’s word say about this? What should I think about this situation? Is there something I should do?
- And do what He says. We learn as we obey.
Press on!
We can be in a fix, with the only remedy being time.
What do we do in the meantime?
It is easy to spend out time regretting the choices or events that got us here. “If only I’d left a new minutes earlier.” “If only I hadn’t…” If only that bug hadn’t been going around in my school, my workplace.” “If only we weren’t stuck here until the weather improved.” “If only we hadn’t lost power.” Those are examples of being stuck for a period of time.
It is possible to lose opportunities by looking to the past, ignoring the present, and wasting the future.
Instead, let’s look how to use the unexpected “downtime” doing something that will matter later.
How can we best use this unexpected time? What does this make possible?
This is AWFUL!
Yet You are holy (Psalm 22:3)
This is HORRIBLE!
Yet You are Creator, Sovereign, Faithful, Loving.
Father, help me, help us, rejoice in who You are. Help us rejoice in Your holy, loving faithfulness.
The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished (Exodus 34:6-7).
Father, help me, help us, trust in Your righteousness, and trust that You are fulfilling Your holy plan.
Father, help me, help us, know, really know, that You are bringing Your children, those of us who have received Christ as Lord and Savior, to glory.
Praise Your holy name.
Do you love Jesus with the highest, self-sacrificing (agape) love?
Do you seek the Kingdom of God first?
Do you love God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength?
I certainly fall short.
Be encouraged!
Jesus asked Peter if Peter agape loved Him, and Peter said that he phileo loved Him (was affectionate toward Him). (John 21)
And Jesus gave him a ministry!
We don’t deserve our salvation, our spiritual growth, God’s forgiveness, or the ways God gives us to serve Him. But God’s love for us, His children, we who have received Christ as Lord and Savior, is infinite and everlasting.
Ask Him
Ask God for greater love for Him.
Praise Him
Praise Him for His love, His mercy, His grace. Know that glory awaits.
Be Encouraged
The world is noisy. And family, friends, co-workers, fellow students, bosses, media, entertainment, etc., etc., etc. have a lot to say, not all of which is helpful (but some is). Some of which is wrong. Some of which is evil.
Some of these sources are from the world, and are not of God.
They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them (1 John 4:5).
We have to be careful who and what we listen to. What we heed. What we act on. What we obey.
Take care how you listen (Luke 8:18).
Listen to Me! Listen to God’s Son!
Oh that My people would listen to Me! (Psalm 81:13)
This is My Son, My chosen One; listen to Him! (Luke 9:35)
How to Listen
We are to hear with a good and honest heart.
Hear the word in a honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance (Luke 8:15).
Let these words sink into your ears (Luke 9:44).
Hear and Believe
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life (John 5:24).
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13)
Hear and Obey
Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24).
Some cannot hear. Some hear and reject.
Pharisees, scribes, chief priests, Herodians listened, plotted, and tried to catch Him, trap Him, in something He said so they might accuse Him, might destroy Him (Luke 11:54, Luke 20:20, Mark 3:6, Mark 12:13).
Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him (Luke 16:14).
For the time will cone when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
Self-Assessment
How good are we at listening to the Lord?
Do we know how to discern truth from error?
How well do we know what God says to us?
Do we know who and what to listen to… and who and what to ignore?
~~~
Father, please help us long for Your word, study Your word, and apply Your word to our lives. Please help us distinguish truth from error. Please help us obey You.
~~~
I had a glitch with emailing last week’s blog. Here it is: Everywhere I Look.
We have choices everyday about where we look/gaze/stare. And we have choices about our interpretations. We are responsible.
Where we look can lead us astray. Achan saw something beautiful that God had prohibited. Then Achan coveted them and took them. And then he concealed them in the earth inside his tent. Then he was killed for his rebellion against God. (Joshua 7)
On the other hand, Job determined not to fall into lust: I have made a covenant with my eyes; How then could I gaze at a virgin? (Job 31:1)
We are to:
Look to the Holy One (Isaiah 31:1).
Look to the eternal things not seen (2 Corinthians 4:18).
Look for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus (Titus 2:13).
Look for the eternal city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10).
Look intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abide by it (James 1:25).
Look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13).
We are to fix our eyes on Jesus
In order for us to run our Christian race with endurance, we are to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).
~~~
Father, help us notice what You want us to see, and help us see and think and act with eternity in mind. Please help us turn our eyes away from our fears and worries to Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Suppose
Suppose you really prayed whether or not to take that new job, or whether or not to send your child to that school, or …. And suppose you were confident you were in the Lord’s will to do so.
And suppose it turned out very VERY badly.
Did you fail to hear God? Did you hear Him and then went your own way anyway?
Do your circumstances prove you rejected His guidance?
No.
Jesus tells us that those who live godly WILL be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12).
Paul and Silas ended up beaten, in prison, and in stocks because they preached the gospel and cast out a demon. The jailer and his family ended up saved. Did the Lord put them in that particular prison so that the jailer and his family would hear the gospel and be saved? (Acts 16:9-40)
Did Paul end up in the deep because God didn’t want him to be on that ship? Did Paul not obey? (Look at the list of Paul’s labors and sufferings! (2 Corinthians 11:23-28)
Your bad circumstances
Your bad circumstances are not proof. Of course, God does lovingly discipline us, and send us though various trails and disciplines as part of making us into the image of His Son. He also puts us into situations so we can witness to Him.
In any case, our responsibility is to trust Him and continually strive to live in a manner pleasing to Him.
Remember
My ways [are] higher than your ways and My thoughts [are higher] than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
The directions for a godly life are: Come to Jesus, Hear His words, Act on what He says (See Directions for a godly Life).
All three require: Decision, Determination, Habit, Courage.
Come to Jesus
After we have been redeemed, we need to decide to go to Christ throughout the day. The more we have Him top-of-mind, the easier that is. We have to determine that is going to be our pattern of life, and develop a firm habit of going to Him.
Hear His Words
God speaks to us in His Word, the Bible. We must decide to learn His Word. We must develop the habit to thoughtfully and prayerfully study what He says to us. And then we must think about what He says during the day.
Act on what He says
Here, courage comes in. We must decide in advance that we are going to do what He says. We must resolutely determine we are going to do what He says. Period.
But acting on what He says can take courage What if it’s scary? What if it look like it might cost us something dear? What if it looks like it would put us in physical danger…or worse? What if….
We must determine to do it anyway.
Tips
Christ, as He promised, sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in believers. We have what it takes to do what He says.
Look beyond the scary to Jesus Christ. Remember what He says and what He promises. Look at the challenge from the point of view of eternity. Pray for strength to do what He asks. Know that you have been given all the resources you need to do what He says. Remember that we are promised rewards for living a godly life.
Do it anyway!
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When Storms Come: Will You Be Ready?
When Storms Come: Will You Be Ready? helps Christians not fear bad news, shows them how to handle current trouble, and helps them emerge stronger on the other side.
About me
I'm a Christian, wife, retiree, and author.
I love studying and putting knowledge into action. I'll share what I'm learning, encourage you, and urge all of us to press on to become more like Christ.
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