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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Pastoral Ponderings ~ The Telescope, the Mirror, the Window, and the Door

          When we open up the Bible to immerse ourselves in the thoughts of God, we will hear things from the Holy Spirit[1] that apply to many different areas of our lives. Some of these lessons will be about us, others about situations we are going through, and still others about things God is doing in our world. How we handle these lessons from God’s Spirit will affect how much benefit we derive from our time in the word of God. Here are some thoughts about how I consider God’s daily lessons in order to maximize their effect in making me like Jesus.

          The first thing I ponder in whatever God’s word is teaching me is like looking through a telescope. God’s children are called to “magnify the LORD”.[2] This does not mean to make God appear bigger than he really is, but to bring greater awareness to his glory that is often obscured by a dark and sinful world.

          Magnifying the Lord is like looking at a distant Super Nova through a telescope. The magnifying power of the telescope enables us to see the distant phenomenon closer to what it is really like. With the naked eye, we cannot even see that such things exist. However, when we look at them through the best and most powerful telescopes, we are overwhelmed by the wonders we can see. So it is with magnifying God by seeking him in his word; we do not make him bigger or better than he really is, but come to see him more closely to his divine reality.

          The second way the word of God affects me is like looking in a mirror. While getting to know things about God is always first and foremost in my mind, I cannot learn about God without learning about myself. Reading and meditating on Scripture is like standing before a mirror and seeing ourselves as we really are. Sometimes this look in the mirror shows us things about ourselves that God is working on to bring into conformity to his Son. Other times he reveals to our hearts and minds wonderful truths about who we are to him so we can let go of the myriad of false and sarky beliefs about ourselves that prevent us from enjoying our relationship to God as his beloved children.[3]

          There are times when we read a Scripture and know it contains a rebuke. We know that it is not God who is being rebuked, since his will is always good and acceptable and perfect”.[4] We cannot immediately jump to the conclusion that the only reason God would reveal a rebuke is that it belongs to someone else. The first reason the Holy Spirit would confront us with a rebuke is because of what Jesus himself is doing. He says, Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”[5]

          If we are going to let the telescope of God’s word bring God’s love for us up to its true immensity, we should not be surprised that he would then stand us before a mirror and confront us with things that need to change. There will always be things that his love must compel him to remove from our lives so we can have the greatest possible experience of his love on any given day.

          Once I have focused on things God is revealing to me about himself, as looking through a telescope, and then things he is revealing to me about me, as looking into a mirror, the third thing is that I am ready to take a look through the window of God’s words. This is the aspect of Scripture where God lets us see, as through a window, into things that are going on in people around us.

          NOTE: if we try to do this step first, it will be like using God’s word as a microscope to magnify other people’s problems and weaknesses way out of proportion to what they really are. It may also lead us to take something God is saying and apply it to other people, when he was really talking about us. This step definitely belongs after we have taken a good, honest look at God and ourselves.

          Through the window of God’s word there will be times when there is no doubt that God has given us something to help us understand non-believers. Other times we are led to appreciate struggles that other believers are going through. God may speak about things that affirm us in the way we are seeking to minister to someone else; or he may use his word to reveal things about people’s condition that compels us to do an about-face in the way we are relating to someone. When Jesus took his disciples up to Samaria on one of his early journeys,[6] he opened a window for his disciples to completely change their way of thinking about their earthly enemies. Be assured that he enjoys doing the same kind of thing for his disciples today.

          The fourth aspect of Scripture is that it presents us with a door. The door represents the fact that God’s word always has something to do, and the doorway leads us into that work. Whether we think of the wise man who puts Jesus’ words into practice,[7] or James’ exhortation that faith without works is dead,[8] spending time with God in his word must include the expectation of hearing something that requires obedient faith.[9]

          Just before Jesus ascended back into heaven, he instructed his church to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”[10] Once we have become baptized disciples of Jesus Christ, the rest of our lives ought to be characterized by learning to observe, or obey, the word of God. Our daily time with God, as well as when we are receiving the preaching and teaching from the word, should always lead us to see something we must actually do in order to join God in his work in us, in his church, and in the world around us.

          Although the metaphors I am sharing with you are only illustrations, I believe they represent the order in which we must let the word of God speak to us. Jesus is the vine,[11] so we learn about him first. We are the branches, so we next learn how to mature in our abiding relationship with him. Jesus is at work to minister to other people through our fellowship with him, so we must see how our time with God in his word helps us to bear fruit in the lives of others. And, all of this will require something to be put into practice in order to bring about God’s good, acceptable and perfect will. I just find that a telescope, a mirror, a window, and a door, help me remember how it all works together for good!

          From my heart,

          Monte
  

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

 


[1] “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 2:7) This phrase is used in all seven of the letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3.
[2] “Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!” (Psalm 34:3)
[3] Ephesians 5:1-2
[4] Romans 12:2
[5] Revelation 3:19
[6] John 4
[7] 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7)
[8] “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:17) “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” (James 2:26)
[9] “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,” (Romans 1:5) “but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—“ (Romans 16:26) 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2)
[10] Matthew 28:19-20
[11] John 15

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