Many things have been written the past couple of months trying to make sense of the current situation that the whole world is in. I will not try to win you over to see and follow my perspective on the why because frankly, I do not have a perspective on it that is worth sharing nor an answer to it. What I do have is a few points that can maybe help you in you walk with Christ in this situation. I was listening to a sermon this morning and the verses that the speaker used sparked these thoughts in my mind. So, to be honest, I did not listen to the whole sermon, after he started speaking for a few minutes I zoned of into my own world with God.
A few points to ponder;
- Eternal perspective
One time I saw a speaker illustrate our lifespan here on earth in the perspective of eternity. He had a rope with him of 20 or 30 meters (the illustration has limits, eternity does not) and at the beginning of the rope he had placed a little piece of red tape. Like on the end of your shoelace. Just try to picture it……. If eternity is so much longer than the little piece of red tape, why is our focus so often only on the tape and not on the rest of eternity? Let not your busines of life or your situation keep you from the perspective that we should be living in. Let me explain a little bit more. When you gave your life to Christ you and Christ became one (John 15) and in this oneness with Christ eternal life has started already. Paul and Timothy speak about our citizenship in heaven in the letter of Philippians.
Having lived abroad and working in an international setting for many years I have seen and experienced our longing for things or behaviour from the countries that we originate from. Or that our perspective on the world is so different because of our origin. Just think about John chapter 3 we are reborn in Christ. The county of origin changed from whatever place in the world to heaven. And this should have an influence on everything we do, say, or feel.
Let heaven influence your day to day life!
- Light on our path or for our feet.
Psalm 119:105. The word of God is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. This light at your feet or lamp to your path can happen either at the same time or alternate between the two. When we see where God is leading us, and we have a greater overview of what is happening that is where the lamp is on our path. When the lamp is on our feet we can only see circle lit up where our feet are standing on. Most people are always looking for the lamp on our path, whilst God is putting a light on our feet so we can see where we are grounded on. At this moment I feel that God is lighting up many feet. Use this time to place your feet on the rock again! He is solid ground, a solid path to walk on. Jesus says I am the way are you walking in Him?
- Friend or Foe
We need to be careful not to fall into the trap of seeing God as a genie in a bottle type of God. I rub on the bottle, do three wishes and I am happy. I just want to draw your attention to the story where Joshua is overlooking Jericho and meets the commander of the lord’s army. When Joshua asks him are you for or against us the commander answers no. By this response we can learn that God is asking us to be on His side. He is in control of every situation and do we have the guts to say, Lord I let go and let you sort it out. That is a matter of trusting in God and of letting God be God. So often we still want to solve situations ourselves. But God wants us to be on His side. That would change our prayer life entirely wouldn’t it? Asking God what are you doing and what is my role in working with you? This way of living with God will lead you to the best life you can live. Crazy situations will occur, you will be asked to do things that with the human rational mind are insane. In moments like that I am reminded of Joshua the new leader of Israel. I wonder what his army commanders said and thought when he walked into the meeting and said, I have prayed, and this is what we are going to do…….
Work with God be on His side and do whatever He asks you to do! - Our calling
Obviously there are callings on lives that are specific for each person. But there are also callings that are universal for every Christian. And that is remarkably simple and hard at the same time. It is love. Loving God above all and your neighbour as yourself. This is our highest calling al the other callings are to fulfil this calling. When you read the verses in 1 john about this you will see that he is speaking about the sacrificial love. Love that costs something. It does not act in a response to received love. It is the kind of love that drove Jesus to the Cross.
Whatever specific calling you have on your life, whatever you do or say. It all needs to fulfil the purpose of love. Loving God is our highest goal! Loving him sacrificially. He should be your highest and first priority in your life at all times. Next to that is loving others also here it is sacrificial love. Love the people around you, go beyond your comfort. But never forget to love yourself as well.
So let us be a people that have our minds set on eternity, our feet planted on the way, working with God and loving God and others with everything that we have within us.