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Having a proper perspective is imperative to living the Christian life with the "joy" the of the Lord.
The big question is HOW do we obtain that proper perspective? Life is a little bit like a good novel. Well-written novels are usually unpredictable. Good authors often do not know how their novel will end when they begin to write. In the process of writing, the plot may take unexpected turns, keeping the reader in suspense (and sometimes the author).
You don’t know where the plot of a good book is headed, but in the back of your mind, you expect the final chapter will bring a satisfying conclusion, will explain the twists and turns of the plot, and clarify any questions raised. Most novels do not meet all those expectations.
I’m going to ask a question, but I’m quite sure that I already know the answer. When you are in the "tangle" of the novel’s suspense, are you ever tempted to flip to the last chapter, just to see if everything turned out OK?
Real life has it "tangles" of suspense, also. As we live, we often ask:
(1) Why is this happening?
(2) Will I ever get out of this difficult situation?
(3) What should I do about… my job, this difficult financial problem, this health problem.., finding a new pastor?
(4) Etc.
Wouldn’t it be nice, if life was like the novel.., and we could turn to the last chapter to see if it turns out OK? Well, interestingly enough, we can turn to the last chapter of life, not only our personal life but all life and see how it will turn out.
Revelation 21:1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." 5 Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." 6 And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
Christ said that He was and is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. In your heart of hearts you may be thinking, "Yes, in the first part of God’s book, He made everything "good", and in the last part of God’s Book, He will once again make everything "good", "But I’m not living in the first chapter or the last chapter. I’m living somewhere in between, like ‘chapter 10’ and there doesn’t seem to be anything ‘good’ in this chapter of my life!"
Ah, yes!
That’s why we
need
a little perspective!
We know that "in the beginning" of God’s book (
Genesis 1& 2), God declared that all
things were very good. We can even
agree that in the end of God’s Book (
Revelation 21-22) all things will be good, again. With such a good
beginning and glorious ending, it comes as a surprise or even a shock
and total dismay to many Christians that the "middle" contains many bad things, such as:
sorrow, disappointments, despair, tragedies, pain, etc.
This misunderstanding stems from the fact that some expect the Christian life to be an uninterrupted experience of "good" times and they expect to be showered with a unending supply of "good" things. Often a Christian, with such a distorted perspective, finds that the "middle" chapters of God’s novel can take some pretty nasty turns.., and those turns often leave them confused, disappointed, disillusioned and sometimes angry.
When the false bubble of Christian living breaks, instead of trusting God for the "middle", many throw up their hands in despair or retreat to a point of self-hypnosis in which they don’t look at reality as real and say that the stresses of life do not exist, BECAUSE of their "position" in Christ.
Therefore, they fall from the grace that God provided to take them through the "hard" times.., and there are real "hard" times in every life, some more than others. Look at what Paul had to say about this grace for hard times, while living in the "middle" of this life long drama.
Paul had a "thorn in the flesh". We don’t know just what that "thorn" was, but it must have been a real big nuisance that plagued his Christian living. This "thorn" was of such a quality that Paul went to the Lord three time pleading that it be removed. Paul never "pled" to have the stonings or the shipwrecks, etc. stopped but this "thorn" was different.
It was through that "thorn" and his experience with that "thorn" that Paul learned a great deal about Christian living and his growth in grace. Not only so, it brought a complete change in his attitude and perspective to the things of life, as he lived in the "middle" of God’s time-long novel.
2 Corinthians 12:8
My! My! That sure is a different perspective to life and Spirituality than we hear from some, who are trying to retreat from reality and stress. Wouldn’t it have been a shame (NO! a sin) if Paul had deluded himself into thinking that the Christian life did not have "thorns", such as: infirmities, reproaches, needs, persecutions, distresses, etc.?
What would have happened to Paul if, while he was living in the "middle", he convinced himself that the Christian life was one of freedom from Spiritual battles over sin and from the stresses of a disciplined life? If that had been Paul’s attitude, he would have missed the wonderful grace of God that demonstrated the strength of God through Paul’s weaknesses. If Paul had tried to escape the "thorns" of life, by retreat either physically or emotionally, he would have fallen short of the Grace of God.
Hebrews 12:15
If our lives are to have eternal purpose, we need to see that we are living in the "middle" of a time-long novel that was begun by God and will be concluded by God.
My friend, our Spiritual lives did not begin with us. Our Spiritual lives began with God, and our purpose for living is not for personal gain, personal glory or personal comfort BUT to allow the manifestation of the power and glory of God through our weaknesses. If you are searching for meaning in life, then you must look up to God, because the meaning to life begins above, not within.
In novels, "accidents" and "strange" things happen to the characters, but they’re not really accidents, nor are they so "strange" because the author planned them. The "accidents" and "strange" things that happen to the characters were devised by the author for a distinct purpose.
In real life (your life) there are no "accidents" or "strange" happenings that escape the plan of God.
In the real life novel, as the "plot thickens" and troubles abound and we are caught in a whirlwind of uncertainty, if we have the proper perspective, that perspective will bring great assurance. God, Who is in control of the past and the future, the One who is the Lord of the beginning and the end, is also in charge of the "middle"!!! God said in…
Revelation 21:6
Yes, God is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the AND He is also the "middle", as we see in…
Hebrews 13:5
We do not know what tomorrow has in store, but we can trust the One who holds tomorrow!!!
Some people do very strange things with the symbolism of the book of Revelation, and therefore, often miss the message of this final chapter of God’s time-long novel. That final chapter can be summed up in a few simple words:
God is in control of history. His rule is inclusive and absolute. He is sovereign over the beginning, the end, AND the middle.
If you gain no more than that fact from your study of the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, you will have gained infinitely more than some, so called, theologians who claim to know all the "ins" and "outs" of God’s last chapter. In God’s time-long novel, there are no accidental occurrences or pointless encounters. Each happening is used by God for the purpose and benefit of our Spiritual good.
A young girl had been reading through the New Testament. In time, she read the last book of God’s novel. As she read the concluding chapters of Revelation, she shouted to her mother, "We won! We won! God started the whole thing and God is going to finish it, and in the ‘middle’ we can be ‘more than conquerors through Christ who loves us’!!"
Let’s say a football team came to half-time and they were behind. I mean really behind! Through those first two quarter they had taken a beating. A number of their starters had been injured. They had fumbled several times, had been intercepted time and time again. Their game was just not up to par.
But it’s only the "middle".
The game’s not over, yet.
In spite of all those mistakes and failures, if the team could know with certainty that they would win the game, and even know the final score, you can be sure they would begin the 3rd quarter with confidence.
Oh yes!! Those last two quarters would STILL bring "bangs", "spills" and "injuries" BUT it would be worth it all, because in the minds of the players, they would know, in spite of it all, they will win!!
Proper perspective
brings
assurance and confidence.
As individual Christians and as a church, we are somewhere in the "middle". Our game’s not over yet. We don’t have to know the whole story, if we’re convinced there is a story, and if we’re trusting the Author for the conclusion and the "middle".
We are heading toward the finish. We are trusting the One who is the Beginning and the End to guide us through the "middle", and give our lives meaning and victory—as we turn page after page of our life’s novel.
Let’s examine a little closer some of techniques we need to live while in the "middle", between the "beginning" of all good things and the "end" when all things will once again be good.
Mark 6:41
The Bible is clear! If you are a human, then time will bring "contrary winds". If you are a Christian who is walking by the Spirit, you will have even more "contrary winds" in your life!
In this text, we see some "contrary winds" that came into the lives of the disciples, WHILE they were following the direct command of Christ. My friend, if you are following the Scriptures you too will experience "contrary winds".
In the life of a Christian, who is serving God, there will be opposition. There will often be things in our lives that cause us to wonder whether we will EVER make any headway, no matter how hard we pull on the oars.
Christ, Himself, faced many "contrary winds". Just a few of those "winds" were:
(1) He was rejected by his home town
(2) He was rejected by his own family
It’s rough when your kinfolk and neighbors won’t accept you.
(3) King Herod had put Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist to death, and he wasn’t too happy about Jesus’ ministry, either
(4) He was so popular that He couldn’t get a day off
(5) He had faithless disciples
(6) Etc.
Perhaps the most contrary of the winds facing Jesus was within his own followers. His disciples had so little faith that any time Jesus wanted to demonstrate His Lordship to the world, it was his own followers who gave him the most grief.
I’m told that Walt Disney was a visionary and it is reported that he would only give his time and energy to a project if his ENTIRE board of directors was unanimously AGAINST the idea. Maybe he had been reading the Gospels and got the idea from Jesus! (I doubt that)
Psalms 90:10
Life is an uphill battle! Your family life, career, school, relationships and even the Gospel ministry is a daily challenge to just "keep it all together". That is not to say there are no joys, satisfactions and great accomplishments, but the bottom line is that in all these things, there are "contrary winds" that if we succumb to them, we will be defeated.
It’s sometimes tempting to adopt the philosophy of "Murphy’s Law" that says: WHATEVER CAN GO WRONG, WILL... SO JUST GRIN AND BEAR IT!
There are "contrary winds" in the ministry of the church:
(1) Not enough money
(2) Need more volunteers
(3) Lack of time
(4) Lack of interest
(5) Lack of dedication and commitment
(6) Etc.
There are "contrary winds" in a Biblical family and work life:
(1) Many give up on marriage (Because it doesn’t meet expectations.)
(2) Marital fidelity is quickly becoming a thing of the past (Because everybody else does it, so why should I be different?)
(3) Loyalty to family and employer is hard to find (Nobody’s gonna look out for #1 – I’ve got to! After all, "He who tooteth not his own horn, getteth it tooted not at all" )
(4) Integrity may disappear from the dictionary (So what if it is cheating - those big companies won’t miss my little bit. What they don’t know won’t hurt them!)
(5) Etc. without number
Even this Biblical passage faces "contrary winds":
Some liberal commentators say that Jesus didn’t really walk on the water. He walked along the shoreline, and the disciples’ boat drifted close to the shore in the fog. Therefore, it seemed to the disciples that Jesus was walking on the water. We are told, by some, that the water in some portions of the lake was only ankle-deep, and Jesus was just wading in the water, but it looked like he was walking on the water. (To believe those take either a lot of faith or a whole bunch of stupidity)
The lists of explanations, given by some to discredit this and other Biblical accounts, are almost endless and none of their arguments merit our study. The Bible says the boat was in the "middle" of the lake. It wasn’t close to the shore.
Jesus ""climbed into the boat." That would have been difficult, if He was on the shoreline, and the disciples were in the middle of that lake. If the water was only ankle deep, how could a boat, large enough to hold a dozen full grown men, be tossed around in a storm while in only in 3 inches of water? If the disciples were only putting their oars into the in the water to the depth of 3 inches, THEN they weren’t very good boatmen.
This was a real storm with a real Christ walking on real waters.
If God MADE those waters in the first place (and He did) then:
(1) He can WALK on water
(2) If He wanted to, Christ could have walked UNDER the water
(3) He can PART the waters (and did)
(4) He can make a dry path THROUGH the waters (and did)
(5) If He had wanted to, He could’ve done as He will do in....
Revelation 20:11
Just in passing. Such infantile attacks on the Word of God would have little effect IF our attention was on Christ AND His Word, rather than on the false teachings and the false teachers. That TOO is a part of a proper perspective!!!!
There are many question we can and sometimes do ask when we have "contrary winds":
(1) How can I get out of the mess?
(2) What did I do to deserve this?
(3) Who caused this?
(4) Etc.
However, the MAIN question that needs to be answered is: "WHO’S IN CONTROL?"
If God is in control, then we can be assured that He is the Beginning and the End the Alpha and Omega AND He is the "middle", also.
Hebrews 13:5
Romans 8:35
Mark 6:45
Please note a few things about this situation in which the disciples encountered "contrary winds". In verse 45, we are told that the Lord "made" the disciples get into the boat.
- Made [
Mark 6:45 ] = (Greek) To constrain because of a necessity
Christ knew that what was about to happen in that boat was needed by the disciples. Christ went up to the mountain to pray, and from that vantage point He could see the disciples. When Christ saw them in the middle of the sea straining at rowing, because of the "contrary winds", it would have been about 6:00 pm or before. It was sunset time.
Watch the timeline here. It will be important for our understanding of the lessons taught by Christ for us today, as we live and struggle in the "middle" of God’s time-long novel.
The fourth watch lasted from 3 am to 6 am. SO… Christ left the disciples on their own, in the storm, for about 8+/- hours. Remember, they were there by Christ’s command. Even more than a simple command, Christ "made" or constrained them to get into the boat.
I thought that if a person lived where God wanted them, life would be a breeze, not a storm with "contrary winds".
Some Christians revel or even gloat in the fact that everything is going right in their lives (at the present time) and such a situation would be reason for thankfulness to God. However, that may not be the sign of God’s blessing. It may simply be that you’re not willing to get in the boat and get involved with where Christ is trying to take you or send you.
Sometimes the fact that you have no conflicts, no mountains to climb, no battles to wage is because, in the Army of the Lord, you may be AWOL!
Be careful, now. The opposite is also true - great problems do not indicate God’s pleasure or displeasure. Remember Job? Everything that could go wrong did in his life. That didn’t mean God was ticked at him, neither does a quiet absence of conflicts mean God is blessing. Some people have much, and some little. Some people live in turmoil, others seem so serene. Some people have great affliction, and others are incredibly healthy, etc.
We must recognize that SOMETIMES Jesus compels us into the storms to face those "contrary winds", because they will teach, condition and strengthen. It is that reality that allows us to say with the apostle, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Mark 6:48 states that Christ "saw" them
"straining" at rowing.
- Saw [
Mark 6:48 ] = (Greek) To see with knowledge
- Straining = (Greek) To torture
Christ looked down from the mountain and had full knowledge of the torture they were going through. Not only did Christ know what they were going through, He knew that they needed to go through that situation to learn to trust Him more.
Eight hours of torture is a pretty cheap education in the art of trusting Christ.
There are so many truths to learn from this passage, but we must press on. However, we do need to touch on a couple other facts.
(1) Christ went to them but would have gone on past, if they hadn’t cried out.
(2) In this case, when Christ came into the boat, the "contrary winds" ceased.
Once again we must be careful. Just because Christ is in the boat dose not always mean that winds will cease. Sometimes, the winds start after He is in the boat.
Mark 4:36
Can’t explore the great lessons of this passage, except to point out AGAIN that just because Christ is in the boat does not mean that all circumstance will be rosy.
There is one lesson we must not miss from the "contrary winds" episode. If we aren’t willing to look beyond the waves and see Jesus, we will miss Him entirely. He’ll walk right on by, NOT because He does not care, but if our minds are filled with the "waves", there is no room in our minds for the "creator of the waves". Peter learned this lesson on his encounter of walking on the water.
Yes, we are living right smack-dab in the "middle" of God’s time-long drama. We are living between when God made all things good and the time when He will once again make all things good. Where we live, in the "middle", we live with those "contrary winds" and we find ourselves straining at the oars just to keep from being swallowed by the waves.
Listen, my friend, even though we are in the "middle", God will never leave us or forsake us, and He has a plan for your life and YES, He has a plan for the church.
Gordon MacDonald, a track star from yesteryear and well-known Christian speaker and writer tells this story from his days of running track. Gordon wrote…
When I first ran track in prep school, my coach invited me to his home for dinner one night. After the meal, he pulled out a notebook with my name on the front cover. He turned to the back page, which bore the heading "June 1957"—three and a half years away.
"Gordon," the coach said. "These are the races I’m going to schedule you to run almost four years from now. Here are the times you will achieve, in those races."
McDonald says, "I looked at those times and thought: ‘Impossible!’ They were light years away from where I was at that moment, as a runner."
Then my Coach began turning back the pages of that book, page by page, showing the 42 months he had scheduled for workouts. These were the graduated, accelerated plans for my increasing skill on the track, as the months and years would go by. My coach, wrote Gordon, had a sense of direction and development when it came to my athletic growth.
The coach’s note book contained the plan for Gordon MacDonald’s success as a runner, but is was simply page after page of "straining" or torture. Really preparing for a track meet can only be described as torture. If Gordon had focused on the 3+ years of "straining" needed to achieve, he would have only been a spectator at best, but never a noted runner.
James 1:2
It may not be your plan to spend time "straining", but God’s plan is to develop you, so you can run the race with purpose and win. Allow God to use these "contrary winds" to grow-you-up Spiritually, to be more like Christ.
In his book, Fuzzy Memories, Jack Handey writes.
There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day. Since I was smaller than he, I would give it to him. Then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons, but the instructor wanted $5 a lesson. That was a lot of money. I found that it was cheaper to pay the bully, so I gave up karate.
Please hear me. God has plans for you. It may take several pages of "straining", because we live in the "middle" and there are "contrary winds". God also has a great things planned for this church, however we must look past the stormy waves and see Christ or He will walk right past.
Too many Christians believe it’s easier to pay the bully than learn how to defeat him.
We live on a BATTLEFIELD not a PLAYGROUND!