MAINTAINING PERSPECTIVE
IN THE YEAR 2000
Together we share as joint participants in a grand historical event that has two horizons:
1. The Horizon Of The Past - and as we look back upon it we see all of the successes and failures that are indelibly stored on it's pages. There is nothing that we can do to change it. It's there. We need to use it as a landmark, a landmark of remembrance, and glance back occasionally to remind ourselves of where we've been. Contained there are the histories of our failures and our successes. Use the horizon of the past wisely. Allow it to help us avoid making the same mistakes over and let it always be a source of encouragement reminding us that we are growing through learning.
2. The Horizon Of The Future - and, as we strain our eyes to catch a glimpse of what awaits us, do so with a sense of anticipation as we endeavor to be all that we are created to be and to do all that we are created to do. The future is bright and the promises are abundant for the child of God who will face the future with a heart full of faith. Regardless of the challenges that we face, we must make a personal application of what the Apostle Paul said when he wrote:
"I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day." (2 Timothy 1:12)
If we are going to maintain perspective in the year 2000 it is imperative that we live with a ROCK solid faith! We must live our lives with faith that
1. DARES TO BELIEVE GOD.
2. DARES TO FOLLOW GOD.
3. DARES TO DEFY FEAR AND DOUBT.
With the past forever behind us and the future unfolding before us there are four resolutions that all of us need to set firmly in place in our lives.
I. RESOLVE TO LIVE MORE SIMPLY
It's nice to have nice things but nice things don't do a thing to save our souls or deliver us in times of evil. Personally, I am thankful for the wake up call that is ringing so loudly concerning the "last days" that we are now in and I find it very interesting viewing the large crowd of young people coming up in the ranks that rejects wholesale the material standards that consume the vast majority of baby boomers.
I know this is "treading on dangerous" ground but let's be honest. Far too many of us are more concerned about our material shackles and chains than we are about doing something that the Lord can and will use to loose the spiritual shackles and chains that hold so many of our fellow planetary residents in bondage. The Spirit of the Lord is not through calling missionaries but so many of us are so encumbered by our luxuries that we either can't or won't hear His voice.
Our hearts have been turned to the things that we possess and it is by the things that we possess that we measure the success of ourselves and others.
Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21)
We need to be continually asking ourselves, "How can the Lord use what I am doing and the things I am pursuing to accomplish and further the work of the Gospel on the earth?" When we do we will find that a lot of our novelties lose the high priority that we place upon them.
II. RESOLVE TO LOVE MORE SINCERELY
Love is more than an emotion! Love is an act of our will and sincere love loves in spite of blemishes - ours and others - and we all have our blemishes.
The Apostle Paul said it this way, "God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God." (Philippians 1:8-11)
Love is a wonderful hard word. We say it a lot but do we really do it?
When Jesus was teaching about The Vine And The Branches he said,
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other." (John 15:9-17)
What a tall order! Could it be that the reason we fail to see obvious and literal answers to our prayers is that we are failing to fulfill this plain directive from the Lord himself?
III. RESOLVE TO LOOK MORE DEEPLY INTO THE WORD OF GOD
God has a plan for our lives and we will never fully realize the plan of God in our lives without acquiring a heart hunger for the written Scriptures.
The few lines of Psalm 119:97-104 reveal a wealth of truth where this is concerned.
"Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every evil path."
The writer of this Psalm had a heart hunger for the Word of God and gave himself to it. He didn't waste his time (or God's) by arguing with it or against it in order to justify his own sinfulness or inadequacies. No. He took to heart the Word of God and by it ordered his own life. Look at the rewards that were his!
The Apostle Paul told Timothy, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." (II Timothy 2:15) The King James Version translates this, "Study to show yourself approved unto God."
This takes work on our part. It means placing such a high priority on the Word of God that we shut out and shut off things that would otherwise consume precious time that we could otherwise spend embracing the pages and the Person of the Word.
IV. LONG MORE FOR THE COMING OF THE LORD
Ready or not, like it or not, understand it or not - the DAY OF THE LORD is at hand!
Concerning the DAY OF THE LORD the Apostle Peter tells us,
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." (II Peter 3:9-12)
In a very real way the DAY OF THE LORD reminds me of the game we used to play as children - Ready Or Not, Here I Come!
Are you longing for the coming of the Lord or does the thought of it cause you to be filled with fear and dread? Undoubtedly, many of us will "go the way of the earth" before the Lord returns. Many of us will stand before the Lord for our own personal "day of reconing" before He returns. All the more reason for us to live every day as though it were the DAY OF THE LORD. For some of us that day will be today.
It was true when he said it and it remains truth for our day. The Apostle Paul said, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) Thank God that we don't have to live in fear and dread about the DAY OF THE LORD when we have a personal relationship with Jesus!
Keep life simple. Love people with the love of the Lord. Look deeply into the Word of God. Long for the coming of the Lord.
COPYRIGHT 2000 DAVE KRALIK. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS STUDY MAY BE FREELY USED AND REPRODUCED, WHOLLY OR IN PART, EXCEPT FOR PROFIT, PROVIDED COPYRIGHT AND CONTACT INFORMATION IS INCLUDED.
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