Perspective

 

Recently, after carrying heavy bags up the stairs leading to our beach house, I felt somewhat light-headed, probably because of the sudden exertion after a long car ride. But as I gazed out over the ocean and toward the blue horizon, I felt my equilibrium restored.

About two years ago, I had to rehearse for our dance ministry when I had nearly, but incompletely, recovered from a 24-hour bout of episodic vertigo. Spinning and being lifted overhead, sometimes while upside down, were more challenging than usual! But I found that if I looked up and into the distance, the vertigo disappeared and my balance quickly returned.

The key to overcoming these troubling situations seemed to be a matter of perspective. Keeping my focus narrowed on myself and my immediate surroundings aggravated my discomfort, whereas shifting to a broader, heavenward view gave me a reassuring sense of stability.

Leonardo da Vinci, the great Renaissance painter, was a master of one point perspective. This technique uses parallel lines converging at a single vanishing point to create the illusion of depth while drawing the viewer’s eye to focus on the main subject. In his renowned “Last Supper,” the vanishing point is behind the head of Jesus Christ, and the lines in the painting all converge on His right eye, directing the viewer's attention to Him.

Perspective has spiritual as well as physical and visual implications. When chaos swirls all around us, we can choose a heavenly rather than a worldly perspective and keep our eyes, hearts and minds focused on Jesus Christ. Remembering that we are saved by trusting in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6) and are promised eternal life with Him (John 3:16), all our worldly cares grow dim.

Just as Leonardo used artistic techniques to highlight Jesus Christ as his most important subject, we can use our spiritual gifts to give Him the pre-eminence in our lives. We must keep ourselves from idols, or any goal, relationship, or pursuit that we value more dearly than Him (1 John 5:21). We must bring every thought into captivity and subjection to Him, while casting out any prideful idea opposed to God’s supremacy (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Scripture urges us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), to be anxious about nothing (Philippians 4:6), and to meditate on God’s Word day and night (Deuteronomy 6:7; Psalm 119). Although our thoughts may flutter about like a swarm of bees, each bee can light on only one blossom at a time, and our mind can only process one thought at a time. So if we direct our thoughts to God, wicked, intrusive, or anxious thoughts take flight.

Like Elisha, we should pray for our own eyes and those of our loved ones to be opened to God’s perspective, seeing not only our physical enemies but also the angels and great cloud of witnesses far outnumbering and overpowering any physical dangers or foes (2 Kings 6:15-17).

If we first seek Jesus Christ and His righteousness, He will not only allow us to find these, but will add on the blessing of meeting all our physical and spiritual needs (Matthew 6:33). Beginning our prayers with praise and thanksgiving reminds us of His infinite power, wisdom, righteousness and love, and His great mercy and grace (Matthew 6:9-13). It reminds us to shift our focus from our weakness to His strength (2 Corinthians 12:9), from our confusion to His solution, from our fear to the faith only He can provide (2 Corinthians 4:8-18).

Turning next in prayer to intercession for the great needs of our loved ones, church family, acquaintances, and even our enemies (Matthew 5:44) changes our perspective by making our own problems seem small in comparison. Then we can ask for whatever personal concerns remain on our hearts, but by then our attitude is likely to have shifted from grumbling or anxiety to gratitude.

In today’s perplexing and distressing End Times, the world, our flesh and the devil want us to focus on the problems, misery, and evil all around us, to paralyze us with fear and distract us from doing God’s work, following His Word, and worshipping Him. But the Holy Spirit within each believer encourages us to look up, for our redemption is near! (Luke 21:28). May we shift our perspective to heavenly things above (Colossians 3:1-2).

In this life we will be troubled and we will face many trials and much suffering (1 Peter 4:12). But in the vast scope of eternity, these all last but a fleeting moment (2 Corinthians 4:17) and will all vanish at the last trump, when we are raised in our glorified body (1 Corinthians 15:52-53) and get our first glimpse of our Savior’s precious face!

Then our perspective will change completely, for we will know Him as He now knows us (1 Corinthians 13:12). We will enjoy Him, Heaven and one another throughout eternity, never again to experience death, aging, sin, sorrow or pain!

Look up, for our redemption draws nigh!

© 2023 Laurie Collett

Pride and Unbelief

 

Pride ad Unbelief

In my opinion, all sins can be boiled down to pride and/or unbelief. The first four of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship to God (Exodus 20:1-11); when we break any of these, it is because we fail to believe that God is Who He says He is. He is the only true God, the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer (1 Peter 4:19; Isaiah 54:5,8), with attributes of infinite love, mercy and grace (1 John 4:8; Hebrews 4:16), as well as omnipotence (Revelation 19:6), omniscience, and omnipresence (Psalm 139:6-8). Knowing and believing this, why would we put any god before Him, worship an idol, take His name in vain, or not honor Him with our worship at designated times and always?

The fifth Commandment is transitional, dealing with our relationship to our earthly parents as the first model we have for our submission to God’s authority (Exodus 20:12). The remaining five commandments deal with our relationship to others (Exodus 20:13-17). If we are guilty of pride, we consider our own worth and our own needs to be greater than those of others. Pride could therefore lead us to commit murder, theft, lying, adultery, or coveting, in thought even if not in deed.

Faith, the opposite of unbelief, keeps us from breaking the first four Commandments. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:5-6). Jesus said the first, or most important Commandment, was to love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, soul, and strength (Mark 12:29-30). Self-sacrificing, agape love, along with a servant’s heart, keeps us from the sin of pride and from breaking the remaining Commandments. Jesus summarized these by saying, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Mark 12:31).

Our pastor gave an excellent message on what he considered to be the worst sin, namely the sin of prayerlessness. This, too, could be considered a sin of pride and of unbelief. We may fail to pray because we pridefully trust in our own flesh to solve our problems, mistakenly thinking we don’t need God’s help, even though without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Or, unbelief may keep us from prayer, if we don’t believe that God loves us infinitely, wants to bless us, can do anything in His will, and works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).

Pride was the sin that caused Lucifer, God’s chosen, wisest, and most beautiful angel of light, to fall from Heaven and become Satan. He imagined that he was superior to God and should be exalted over Him, not realizing that God had created him and endowed with all his gifts and talents (Isaiah 14:12-15). How sad when anyone, driven by pride, uses what God has given them not to glorify God, but to rebel against Him, leading to their own destruction (Proverbs 16:18; 1 Timothy 3:6). Yet Lucifer, even after he became Satan, was not guilty of unbelief, and even all the angels that rebelled along with him and fell to earth as demons still believed in God’s power and trembled at it (Matthew 8:28-29; James 2:19).

Unbelief as well as pride led to the fall, as Eve began to doubt God’s Word when Satan tempted her with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). So, pride also played a role, as Eve imagined that eating the forbidden fruit would make her as wise as God (Genesis 3:4-6). The sin of unbelief by those in Jesus’ home town resulted in their missing out on His miracles (Matthew 13:57-58)

The only sin that cannot be forgiven is the ongoing, persistent denial that Jesus is Lord, Son of God and God Himself, Who died, was buried and rose from the dead as the perfect sacrifice for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). John even referred to those who denied Christ as antichrists (1 John 4:3). Pride and unbelief are what keep people from being saved. 

When people trust in their own good works and religious practices to get them to heaven, their pride prevents them from realizing they are sinners in need of a Savior. When people foolishly misplace their belief in the false god of evolution (Psalm 14:1), or in the leader of any religion who lies dead and buried, their unbelief in the living, risen God keeps them from salvation.

A good example of both sins can be found in Luke 22, at the Last Supper on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion. Judas betrayed Jesus when Satan entered into him (v. 3-6; v. 47-48), which would not have been possible if he believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the Son of God. Pride was paramount in the disciples’ dispute over who among them was the greatest (v. 24), which is particularly shocking as it immediately followed Jesus’ symbolic portrayal of giving His body and shedding His blood for them (v. 15-20). Jesus then reminded them to follow His example of having a servant’s heart (v. 26-27).

Immediately after Jesus warns Peter that Satan wants to destroy him and all the disciples, and that Jesus is praying for Peter to have unfailing faith (v. 31-32), Peter succumbs to the sin of pride, boasting that he will follow Jesus even unto death (v. 33). But Jesus accurately prophesied that Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster’s morning cry.

At the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples fall into the sin of prayerlessness, which, as we have seen above, may result from pride as well as unbelief. Jesus asked them to pray not to fall into temptation (v. 40), yet they fell asleep (v. 45-46) when He most coveted their prayers. Rather than asking them to pray for Him, for the agonizing ordeal He was about to endure, Jesus selflessly was concerned about them falling into temptation. The temptation to lose faith and fall prey to unbelief would be great as they were about to see their Messiah unjustly accused, sentenced, whipped, beaten, scourged and crucified.

May the remembrance of our risen Lord, Who allowed His body to be broken and His blood to be shed to pay for our sins in full and to grant eternal life to all who trust Him (John 3:16), keep us from the temptation of giving in to pride and unbelief.

© 2012 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives

What Was Jesus Thinking?

 

The last week of Christ’s life takes more space in the Gospels than any entire year in His ministry, and a six hour time span on the day of His death takes up as much space as the months He spent in Galilee. The Word tells us of much of what happened and words spoken during this paradigm-changing, single most crucial week in history. Yet it leaves to our imagination much of what Jesus thought and felt.

Imagine that you are a parent, and that your beloved children have committed crimes against the powers that be. Justice demands their severe punishment and execution, and they are condemned to die an excruciating, prolonged death. But you have arranged to substitute your life in their place, and you willingly agree to suffer and die so that they may live.  You know when, where and how your gruesome execution will occur. You know that you are innocent, yet all will believe that you are guilty and deserve to die.

So you warn your children that you will be put to death, and you explain the specifics without going into detail about the horror. You know that your time with them is short, and you want to impart to them all of your wisdom and Godly example before you die.

But sadly, they just don’t get it. They don’t realize they are guilty of any serious offense, so they don’t understand the need for your sacrifice. You tell them you are going to die, and they argue over who will have more privileges when you’re gone. You explain the most important life lessons you want them to understand, backed up by your Godly example during your time with them, yet they not only fail to understand but don’t even care to learn.

You fill your last moments with them with meaningful family time, commemorating what has been and what will be, but they’re distracted with arguing with one another. You ask them to pray, not for you and your ordeal to come, but for themselves, that they will have the spiritual strength to carry your message forward. Instead, they fall asleep. You are arrested, tried, and put to death, and they run away, abandoning you instead of being proud to be in your family.

Yet this is just a poor illustration of what Jesus suffered. His sacrifice paid for all sins (John 1:29), past, present and future, of all mankind, not against a worldly power but against God the Father Himself, against the Creator and Ruler of the universe. His love was infinite and completely self-sacrificing, taking no thought for His own desires but willing to give His all to save us (John 15:13). 

His sacrifice was not just for those who loved and trusted Him as He walked this earth, but for all of us, all sinners (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8; Isaiah 64:6), children of the devil (John 3:10), and enemies of God (Romans 5:10) deserving eternal punishment in hell.

One of the many ways in which His life was unique was that His divine omniscience allowed Him perfect foreknowledge of coming events (Acts 2:23), with all their detail and ramifications. He had known since the beginning of time that man’s salvation demanded not only His coming to earth wrapped in human flesh, but His agonizing death on the cross (Revelation 13:8; Psalm. 88:15). 

He knew that even His closest disciples would be clueless about what He was telling them (Matthew 12:40; 16:20; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34). Their priority was not His mission as much as their own power and prestige (Matthew 16:21-23; 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-45).   

Just as He supernaturally knew how to arrange His last Passover meal with His loved ones (Matthew 26:17-18; Mark 14:12-15); He also knew that they would be more concerned about who would betray Him (Matthew 26:21-25; Mark 14:18-21) and who among them was greatest (Luke 22:21-24) than about understanding the eternal significance of the bread and wine, symbolizing His body broken and His blood shed for the remission of our sins (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24).

I wonder if His perfect knowledge made His sadness and pain easier or more difficult to bear?  It may have been even more painful because He knew the details of how He would be betrayed by Judas and Peter (Matthew 26:47-50; 69-75; Mark 14:29-31; 43-46; 66-72), abandoned by the others (Matthew 26:31-43; Mark 14:27; 37-40), doubted by Thomas (John 20:24-25), and accused, humiliated and tortured by His very people that He came to save (Matthew 26:59-68; Mark 14:55-65).

Yet His unspeakably horrible trial may have been made possible to endure by His foreknowledge of the ultimate result. As difficult as it is for my limited human mind to fathom, He not only willingly sacrificed Himself (John 10:17) and set His face resolutely toward Jerusalem (Luke 9: 51; Isaiah 50:6), but He endured His suffering for the joy of giving us eternal life (Hebrews 12:2).

He knew that He would restore Peter and the others to vital positions of ministry (John 20:15-19), that even Thomas would no longer doubt (John 20:26-28), that He would convert Saul to Paul and give the gospel of grace to be spread to all peoples (Acts 9), and that His resurrection would conquer sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:20-57). Praise God that all who trust in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6) now have eternal life! 

© 2014 Laurie Collett
Reposted from the archives

The Lord’s Supper: Before, During and After

God’s Triune nature, reflected in triplets of Scripture throughout the Bible, is echoed in the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:17-30; Mark 14:12-21; Luke 22:7-30). 

This memorable meal, with special significance to Jesus, to His apostles, and to born-again believers, looked back to the past, celebrated the present, and anticipated the future. 

The Lord’s Supper, convened by Jesus with His disciples the night before He was crucified, took place on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread (Matthew 26:17) during Passover. Finding the guestroom for this meal involved three people: the disciples Peter and John, and an unnamed servant (Mark 14:13-16; Luke 22:8-13). 

Jesus arranged for this supper by telling the disciples to go into the city, to meet the servant whom they would recognize by his carrying a  pitcher of water, and to ask his master to lend Jesus the large upper room for the meal (Mark 14:13). 

There are many theories about what Jesus and the twelve consumed at the meal, but Scripture only mentions bread (Mark 14:22; Matthew 26:26), fruit of the vine (Mark 14:25; Matthew 26:29; Luke 22:18), and a dip for the bread (Mark 14:20; Matthew 26:23), most likely olive oil (Exodus 29:2) containing bitter herbs (Numbers 9:11). Lamb would not be on the menu that day, as no work, such as killing, preparing, and cooking a lamb, could be done on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread (Leviticus 23:4-7).

It is fitting that the Passover lamb could not be sacrificed until the following day (Exodus 12:6), when Jesus Christ, the sacrificial Lamb Who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), would Himself be crucified beginning at the third hour (Mark 15:25) of the day (around 9AM), with the time of death at the ninth hour, around 3PM (Mark 15: 34).

Jesus knew the agonizing ordeal He would face in a few hours, yet He began His last meal by giving thanks (Matthew 26:27; Mark 14:23; Luke 22:17-19), emphasizing that we should thank God in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

He knew that He was about to be betrayed, arrested and subjected to three false trials; rejected, humiliated, and scorned by His chosen people; and beaten, crowned with thorns, and crucified. Even worse, all but John of His beloved disciples abandoned Him during this ordeal; He had to witness the heartbreak of His mother; and at the moment He took on all of mankind’s sins, God had to look away and Christ could not call Him “Father” (Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 19).

Jesus explained the symbolism of the Last Supper to His disciples (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:17-20). The bread He broke represented His body that would be broken on the cross; the fruit of the vine represented His blood that would be shed to take away mankind’s sin; and all were to drink of the cup to symbolize their spiritual union with Him.

The same three products consumed at the Lord’s Supper constituted the meat and drink offering given at the feast of firstfruits, which looked forward to Jesus as the First to rise from the dead to a glorified body. The meat offering was cakes made of two tenth deals of fine flour mixed with olive oil, and the drink offering was the fourth part of an hin of wine (Leviticus 23:13).

The absence of leaven in the offering cakes, in the manna God provided to feed His children in the wilderness (Exodus 16:15,31), and in the Passover bread connotes the absence of sin (1 Corinthians 5:6-7) in Christ. He is the Bread of Life (John 6:35,48), the Bread of God (John 6:33), and the Living Bread giving eternal life (John 6:51) to all those who trust in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6) .

For Jesus and His apostles, the Lord’s Supper therefore remembered God’s deliverance and acts of worship established in the past: His sparing the firstborn Hebrew children from the angel of death in Egypt (Exodus 12:12-13; 21-23); the feast of unleavened bread (Exodus 12:17; 23:15; 34:18; etc.) to commemorate the Passover, and the temple offerings at the feast of firstfruits (Leviticus 23:13).

At the first Passover, the scarlet thread of redemption by the blood was dramatically shown in the blood sacrifice of the lamb, to mark with blood the lintel and two side posts of each doorway (Exodus 12:5-7;22-23). This forerunner of the sign of the cross signified that the angel of death should “pass over” the homes thus marked, sparing the life of the firstborn within.

For all those sealed by our faith in Jesus’ shed blood on the cross, death will “pass over” us in that our physical body will die, but we will pass through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4)., and we will live eternally with Christ (2 Corinthians 5:8). Our soul and spirit will forever be with the Lord and will ultimately inhabit our glorified body, which will never age, get sick, or die (1 Corinthians 15:35-54).

During the first Lord’s Supper, Jesus and His apostles were highly engaged in the present moment. Jesus had longed for and was now savoring His fellowship with the disciples (Luke 22:15), serving them (Matthew 26:26-27; Mark 14:22-23), and teaching them by His example, by explanation, and by warnings that they would betray, deny, or abandon Him (Matthew 26:21-24; Mark 14:18-21; Luke 22:21-34).

The disciples responded at first with self-examination, each asking with great sorrow if he was the one who would betray Christ (Matthew 26:22; Mark 14:19), but this soon degenerated into arguing over who would be the guilty one and even into jockeying for position regarding who could be considered the “best” disciple (Luke 22:23-24).

How this must have grieved Jesus, particularly on the eve of His crucifixion, and yet don’t we do the same today? We examine our own hearts all too briefly, then attempt to justify ourselves by judging sins in others and concluding wrongly that we’re better by comparison.

While remembering the past and living in the present, Jesus also used His last supper before His death to prophecy the future. He prophesied that His body would be broken and His blood shed in His crucifixion. He looked forward to the new covenant between Holy God and sinful man, reconciling them by His perfect, sinless sacrifice to pay the entire debt for all our sins (Matthew 26:28). Finally, He prophesied His coming Kingdom, when He would again eat the unleavened bread and drink the fruit of the vine in fellowship with His beloved at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Matthew 26:29; Luke 22:16,18).

Each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we should remember Christ’s sacrifice, thank Him for our salvation, and look forward to His Second Coming! 

© 2015 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives
 

 

What Was Jesus Thinking?

The last week of Christ’s life takes more space in the Gospels than any entire year in His ministry, and a six hour timespan on the day of His death takes up as much space as the months He spent in Galilee. The Word tells us of much of what happened and words spoken during this paradigm-changing, single most crucial week in history. Yet it leaves to our imagination much of what Jesus thought and felt.

Imagine that you are a parent, and that your beloved children have committed crimes against the powers that be. Justice demands their severe punishment and execution, and they are condemned to die an excruciating, prolonged death. But you have arranged to substitute your life in their place, and you willingly agree to suffer and die so that they may live.  You know when, where and how your gruesome execution will occur. You know that you are innocent, yet all will believe that you are guilty and deserve to die.

So you warn your children that you will be put to death, and you explain the specifics without going into detail about the horror. You know that your time with them is short, and you want to impart to them all of your wisdom and Godly example before you die.

But sadly, they just don’t get it. They don’t realize they are guilty of any serious offense, so they don’t understand the need for your sacrifice. You tell them you are going to die, and they argue over who will have more privileges when you’re gone. You explain the most important life lessons you want them to understand, backed up by your Godly example during your time with them, yet they not only fail to understand but don’t even care to learn.

You fill your last moments with them with meaningful family time, commemorating what has been and what will be, but they’re distracted with arguing with one another. You ask them to pray, not for you and your ordeal to come, but for themselves, that they will have the spiritual strength to carry your message forward. Instead, they fall asleep. You are arrested, tried, and put to death, and they run away, abandoning you instead of being proud to be in your family.

Yet this is just a poor illustration of what Jesus suffered. His sacrifice paid for all sins (John 1:29), past, present and future, of all mankind, not against a worldly power but against God the Father Himself, against the Creator and Ruler of the universe. His love was infinite and completely self-sacrificing, taking no thought for His own desires but willing to give His all to save us (John 15:13). 

His sacrifice was not just for those who loved and trusted Him as He walked this earth, but for all of us, all sinners (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8; Isaiah 64:6), children of the devil (John 3:10), and enemies of God (Romans 5:10) deserving eternal punishment in hell.

One of the many ways in which His life was unique was that His divine omniscience allowed Him perfect foreknowledge of coming events (Acts 2:23), with all their detail and ramifications. He had known since the beginning of time that man’s salvation demanded not only His coming to earth wrapped in human flesh, but His agonizing death on the cross (Revelation 13:8; Psalm. 88:15). 

He knew that even His closest disciples would be clueless about what He was telling them (Matthew 12:40; 16:20; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34). Their priority was not His mission as much as their own power and prestige (Matthew 16:21-23; 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-45).   

Just as He supernaturally knew how to arrange His last Passover meal with His loved ones (Matthew 26:17-18; Mark 14:12-15); He also knew that they would be more concerned about who would betray Him (Matthew 26:21-25; Mark 14:18-21) and who among them was greatest (Luke 22:21-24) than about understanding the eternal significance of the bread and wine, symbolizing His body broken and His blood shed for the remission of our sins (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24).

I wonder if His perfect knowledge made His sadness and pain easier or more difficult to bear?  It may have been even more painful because He knew the details of how He would be betrayed by Judas and Peter (Matthew 26:47-50; 69-75; Mark 14:29-31; 43-46; 66-72), abandoned by the others (Matthew 26:31-43; Mark 14:27; 37-40), doubted by Thomas (John 20:24-25), and accused, humiliated and tortured by His very people that He came to save (Matthew 26:59-68; Mark 14:55-65).

Yet His unspeakably horrible trial may have been made possible to endure by His foreknowledge of the ultimate result. As difficult as it is for my limited human mind to fathom, He not only willingly sacrificed Himself (John 10:17) and set His face resolutely toward Jerusalem (Luke 9: 51; Isaiah 50:6), but He endured His suffering for the joy of giving us eternal life (Hebrews 12:2).

He knew that He would restore Peter and the others to vital positions of ministry (John 20:15-19), that even Thomas would no longer doubt (John 20:26-28), that He would convert Saul to Paul and give the gospel of grace to be spread to all peoples (Acts 9), and that His resurrection would conquer sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:20-57). Praise God that all who trust in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6) now have eternal life! 

© 2014 Laurie Collett
Reposted from the archives