HEAVENLY PERSPECTIVE

We mustn’t say, “I will choose to love this person if it kills me,” but rather “I will set myself aside and allow God to love this person through me.”

“But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven…”Matthew 5:44
A pure and contrite heart is being formed within us as we continue to walk out our eternal sanctification.

“Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, but humility goes before honor.” Proverbs 18:12

 
A negative thought first crossing our mind is not sin. But if we choose to bury that thought in our hearts or turn it into a negative action, sin is the result. We need to take that thought captive and immediately relinquish it to God.

  “…we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…” II Corinthians 10:5

Painful memories grow strangely dim when we allow the Holy Spirit to light the candle of God’s Love within our hearts.

“…but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:13-14

Paul chose to look at life from a heavenly perspective. That’s why he could write:

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body (2 Cor. 4:8-10).

Paul had experienced a level of opposition and suffering that you and I can scarcely imagine. People said they would do things but did not follow through. He could not depend on certain people. Yet he was not crushed, and he refused to give in to despair. He viewed his life as a continual process of dying. His goal was to live in such a way that the life of Jesus would be revealed in his response to adversity.

Beware of placing too much expectation on others. Realize that people will let you down from time to time, but do not let that impact your faith. Trust God to work even through these disappointments.

The Bible is clear that humans do not achieve greatness without having their sinful will broken. This process is designed to create a nature change in each of us, not just a habit change. The Bible calls it circumcision. Circumcision is painful, bloody, and personal.

JN 17: 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Thank You Jesus for the gift of eternal life.  Help me always see the Eternal Perspective in all my circumstances to bring You Glory and me  Hope.  Amen