Perspective on the Unseen

To hold a biblical perspective on reality is to affirm that there is more to reality than what meets the eye. In fact, what you don’t see matters far more than what you do see. Paul writes, “For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). It’s not that the present universe isn’t important, it’s just that we need to be repeatedly reminded that all of the current physical creation “will perish,” and that God “will change it like a robe,” but the Lord and his people “will have no end” (Psalm 102:25-28). It might be compared to your computer. There is a lot you can physically see, touch and analyze – you can test the power supply, touch the memory chips, and dissect the motherboard – but far more important, is the data which resides on and is expressed through the hardware. Those digital realities are what really matter to us. That is what we value. That is what we will carefully preserve and keep to transcend the limited lifespan of our aging and soon-to-be-outdated laptops. The Bible asserts that the physical world was created by our non-physical God, as a vehicle to embody and express the unseen spirits of men, women and children. As others have rightly said, “you do not have a spirit; you are a spirit, who has a body.” And because of the sentence of sin, the bodies we have will continue to age on this decaying planet while we and it “wait with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” to be “set free from bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21).

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Vigilant Living

There is a kind of sober, vigilant, circumspect mindset that the Scripture consistently promotes and calls his people to maintain. Paul rebukes the Corinthians both metaphorically and literally: “Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning” (1 Corinthians 15:34). That groggy, kick-back, chill-out attitude, which seems to hold sway in affluent church cultures during peacetime has no place among Christians at any time or in any age. Christ’s followers must always be alert, cognizant of their spiritual enemies, and on the lookout for those strategic opportunities to advance the kingdom of God, in order to push back those stubborn and insidious “gates of hell” (Matthew 16:18). This is why the Bible regularly calls us to sustain a watchful and attentive attitude. Notice how the Holy Spirit exhorts us: “Let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:6). That particular exhortation is quickly followed by a military analogy that begins by again calling us to “be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:8). We can be certain that whatever works to desensitize our thinking or lulls us into some level of passivity is positively not from God. The Spirit’s influence on your life is always going to lead you to be “preparing your mind for action” and beckon you to be “sober-minded” (1 Peter 1:13). So stay focused and alert, ready for whatever God has for you to face today.

For more sermons and devotionals on God's Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org

Parenting

Parenting is hard work. Particularly because we are called by God to direct and correct young human beings who are born sinners (Psalm 51:5), by nature chafe against the instructions of God (Romans 8:7; 1 Corinthians 2:14), and are obstinately focused on pleasing their own selfish appetites (Ephesians 2:3). And yet, even from the youngest of years, this work to curtail, limit, shape and redirect young rebellious lives is precisely what God requires us to do (Ephesians 6:4; Proverbs 22:15). Of course, our ultimate goal is to bring them to a mature understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but at the same time, throughout each season of immaturity our job is to reign in, curb and restrain their innate impulses to do what is sinful (1 Samuel 3:13). For even before the transforming work of regeneration takes place, “a child makes himself known by his acts” (Proverbs 20:11) and parents are evaluated by either the submission or the insubordination of their children (Titus 1:6). And considering the great personal costs to your child for his or her moral choices (Galatians 6:8), it makes sense that a mom or dad’s effort in this task is seen as the definitive measure of parental love (Proverbs 13:24). It should come as no surprise that when permissiveness characterizes a home, shame, regret and disgrace will surely follow (Proverbs 29:15). So if you are in the throes of correcting and corralling young sinners, take heart, your consistent, firm and loving discipline will reap a harvest of peace and righteousness (Proverbs 29:17).

For more sermons and devotionals on God's Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org

Spiritual Sensitivity

The lenses of our eyes are extremely sensitive. It doesn’t take but a speck of dust to stop us in our tracks so that we can delicately and diligently work to extract the irritating particle. That’s what makes Christ’s illustration concerning the undetected “log in our eye” such an extreme indictment regarding our moral and spiritual insensitivity. His analogy in Matthew 7 is intended to underscore our predisposition to maintaining a keen awareness regarding other people’s sins, while neglecting to ever critically evaluate ourselves. This can be seen in how we read the Bible – especially its many denunciations. How often do we read about God’s stinging rebukes or promised judgments on the doubting Israelites or the compromising nations, without ever pausing to see ourselves in those passages? How regularly do we read stories of disobedience to God and rebellion against his holy precepts, only to regretfully affirm God’s displeasure with someone else? This is a dangerous practice and one that we must ask God to help us overcome. We must be willing, first and foremost, to stare intently into God’s word as “a mirror” reflecting our own lives (James 1:22-25). We must linger over each Scriptural rebuke and allow God’s Spirit to “search the heart and test the mind” (Jeremiah 17:10). “Then,” Jesus said, “you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5).

For more sermons and devotionals on God's Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org