Obtaining an Aerial
View of Life
By Pastor Timothy Burdick
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your
hearts on things above, where Christ is
seated at the right hand of God. Set your
minds on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians
3:1-2)
Recently I wrote an
article about how God wants us to live an
elevated life. A life that transcends our
needs and problems. The article was based on
Colossians 3:1-2, our Scripture for today.
What led me to write
this article may be more interesting than
the article itself. I saw two main streams
of Christianity and really felt that if they
were trying to present a picture of God,
then most of their audience would misjudge
God's nature.
The first view sees
everything negatively, and while Christ has
redeemed us, life for them is nothing but
toil and hardship.
The proponents of the
second view, on the other hand, make it
sound like everything a person touches will
turn to gold. When conceiving of the
article, I told myself that there had to be
a balance. For while there are problems in
life, I know that Jesus has come to overcome
these. Also, since Christ came to die for
our sins, we don’t need to dwell on them any
more because Scripture says that He has
separated them from us, as far as the east
is from the west (Psalm 103:12).
Because I am blind, I
cannot see from the window seats of
airplanes, but I remember what people have
said about how things look much smaller from
those windows high in the sky. Then and only
then, the balance that I sought became
apparent to me. God wants us to look down on
our problems from His perspective. Since we
have risen with Him, looking at our problems
from His perspective will make them appear
smaller, and actually they are smaller than
they seem to be.
So from Scripture I
came up with the following ideas: The
importance of being still before God is
something I struggle with, but in a culture
so obsessed with noise, quiet is essential.
Meditate on God’s Word and think less about
your problems. Whichever you give the most
time to will loom largest in your thoughts.
Encourage yourself in
the Lord like David did. Whatever it is that
you may be experiencing, ask God to help you
see things in a new way. Give thanks for the
good things and ask Him to help you see the
blessings that may be very well have been
hidden. When you feel defeated, tell God so,
for He always rewards the honest seeker. I
don’t know what you are going through, but
God does; so let Him lift you to new heights
on eagle's wings, looking at things from HIS
perspective.
Visit Pastor Timothy at New Vision Ministries website www.mynvm.org
Visit Friday Study Ministries
www.FridayStudy.org
www.FirstChurchOnTheNet.org
|
