Pastor Obie continues: The Second way to keep an eternal perspective is (2) Renew yourself daily in God’s Word. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. God is renewing our character to be more Christ-like. God is renewing the inner moral strength within each of His born-again, sanctified children. Our emotional, psychological self is growing under blessing assurance of salvation by grace through faith. The Apostle describes an external decline of the old self (the sin nature of the flesh) with an internal revitalization that is transforming the Christian life daily. The Lord Jesus told us in His model prayer of Matthew 6:11, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Just like the body needs physical food for nutrition and sustenance every day to function, our spirit requires spiritual food daily for renewal. The Apostle Paul instructs us in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Get into the Word of God daily. Build those spiritual disciplines by having quiet times of prayer and meditating upon God, His Word, His Will and His Way. Eat spiritual food and connect with God every day. Sin caused the spirit of man to die within them and broke the spiritual connect, but regeneration of the spirit at true born-again conversion in repenting and accepting the redeeming gift of God by faith reconciled and restored that spiritual connection to our Creator Father in Heaven through the blood of Christ (His death on the Cross in our place for our sins). You need to feed your spirit every day in some way, and when you do this it will change your focus towards the things that are eternal. It will change the place where you put your hope also. You see, our hope determines our habits, and when we put our hope on the eternal things, it will change how we think and act today. It will change the way that you respond to life’s trials and life’s blessings. So, daily renew yourself in God’s holy Word with an eternal perspective. Read your Bible.
The third way to keep an eternal perspective is (3) weigh everything against the weight of God’s glory. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. One of the most damaging things that Social Media has done to this current generation’s mental health is that it has made demeaning comparisons of one’s life to another person’s highlights and it is creating materialism, jealous covetousness and hurting society. There are heavy things in life that weigh us down, but weighed against God’s eternal glory and this life is worth the hardships. The Christian progresses from justification at salvation, to sanctification in life’s journey on this side of eternity, to glorification in Heaven for eternity when this earthly life is over. Knowing and trusting in Almighty God establishes the standing firmly of His Word and the promises of eternal glory, making the distractions and issues of this world not worth our focus, our overt attention or getting bitter over.
The true attention is on someone coming to a “saving” faith in Jesus Christ and advancing the kingdom of God, which brings glory to God. For that glory, anything in comparison is just light and momentary affliction. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. As we are living for God and accomplishing His Will in our lives today, facing these problems and trials of life that come temporally compared to the Gospel of eternal glory our life to be lived eternally, the eternal perspective tips the scale and is worth it. The Apostle Paul explains in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Our work is in becoming more Christ-like and diligently working in God’s over-arching plan of salvation and restoration in the saving of souls for God’s glory.
The Apostle Paul illustrates in 1 Corinthians 9:23-25, I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Modern Olympic athletes sacrifice extensive time and training to win a gold, silver or bronze medal and momentary illustriousness, believing that it all is worth it. For the true Christian, as the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Our race is in becoming more Christ-like and diligently running to win in God’s over-arching plan of salvation and restoration in the saving of souls for God’s glory. The focus on the heavenward prize is having an eternal perspective.
Let's conclude Pastor Obie's message on having the proper perspective in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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