Thanks be to God who always
leads us in triumph in Christ… —2 Corinthians 2:14
{CHAMBERS} “Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s
perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little.
Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper
perspective. The proper perspective to
maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in
the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase—
we are here to exhibit only one thing— the “captivity [of our lives] to the
obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). […] Paul said, in essence, “I am in
the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are,
for I am always led in triumph.” […] It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the
Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing
for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so
completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and “we are more than
conquerors through Him…” (Romans 8:37).”
{ELGIN} “I heard an old, old story, How a Savior came from glory, How
He gave His life on Calvary To save a wretch like me; I heard about His
groaning, Of His precious blood's atoning, Then I repented of my sins And won
the victory. O victory in Jesus, My Savior, forever. He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood; He loved me ere I knew Him And all my love is due
Him, He plunged me to victory, Beneath the cleansing flood.” We have victory over sin and death only because
of Jesus. Because of Jesus, we are born again into a new existence by the Spirit. And because of that, we should live every day with that new perspective. We should see the world like God sees the
world. Paul wrote to the Ephesians “I
pray that the eyes of your heart may be
enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you,
the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably
great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he
[God the Father] exerted when he
raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly
realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name
that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his [Jesus] feet
and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his
body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:18-22)
But that is a problem for
most of us. Keeping the proper
perspective that is. We live our lives
more like victims than victors. Why? Because
we lack perspective. “But I say, walk by
the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16). We have not made our faith a priority but have
relegated it to something we call on in times of trouble. We view the world and engage the world with
natural eyes and our old nature, rather than like Jesus. Jesus walked with sinners, but was not
influenced by them. For many their
natural heritage is far more important than their spiritual heritage. I am sure you have seen the commercial for
sending in your DNA so you can find out where you came from. Ancestry dot com. That business was born out of the Mormon church,
by the way. People
find comfort in knowing those things, but from an eternal perspective, who your
great-great-great grandfather was is not important. He will not keep you out of hell. Ok, here is an ancestral revelation that
might save you some money and time. You
came from Adam. But there is One who is
called the second Adam and “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.
All things are passed away, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) You have a new DNA. You must see the world through your new spiritual eyes. The only way you can do that is by drawing
closer to the Lord than you are right now.
For generations the world has struggled to find meaning by looking within and will continue to struggle in tis quest until it looks up and finds Jesus or judgment.
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