Gaining (or Re-gaining) the Right Perspective

Posted on by Ken Reynolds

Think back to when you were in school when you consider your answers to these questions, just to give you the right frame of mind for what we are about to learn—or relearn. Look up first, and listen intently to the words, a song called “I Give Myself Away”—especially one on YouTube® performed by children listed as the Sunbeams Choir.

 

Question 1:  Is the world “helio-centric”? (Does the earth revolve around, or focus on, the sun?)

Question 2:  Is the world “geo-centric”?   (Does the sun revolve around, or focus on, the earth?)

Question 3:  Is the world “anthropo-centric”?  (Does the earth revolve around, or focus on, mankind?)

Question 4:  Is the world “me-centric”? (Does the earth revolve around, or focus on, you?)

Question 5:  Is the world “Theo-centric”?  (Does the earth revolve around, or focus on, Jesus Christ?)

 

Here are a few bullet points for us to know and remember:

  • Almighty God does everything with and in ORDER (not disorderly or chaotically)
  • Almighty God is EFFICIENT (not wasteful, not in vain)
  • Almighty God has a PURPOSE for everything (not random, not by chance, not by coincidence)
  • Almighty God does NOT NEED us for anything but, as part of His design and creation, He made us for His plans (not for our own), we serve Him (He does not serve us!), He is the Potter and we are the clay
  • Our lives, therefore, are not our own (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20; whether we are believers or not. If we are, we have been bought with the price of His precious blood and have been ransomed from death. If we are not  Christians, He made us; we did not and cannot create ourselves. Either way, we are not our own.)
  • Nothing we have belongs to us (1 Timothy 6: 7; we came into the world with nothing of our own and cannot take anything out of it.)

 

This is a vital and key revelation:  When we give ourselves away, we are not doing the Lord some great service by surrendering our wills to Him who made us, WE ARE SIMPLY RETURNING SOMETHNG WE HAVE STOLEN BACK TO WHOM IT BELONGS! Let me say that again. Let that truth, that concept sink in and take lasting root. WE ARE SIMPLY RETURNING OUR MINDS, HEARTS, BODIES AND WILLS—EVERYTHING WE HAVE WRONGLY TAKEN POSSESSION OF—BACK TO WHOM IT BELONGS, TO HIM WHO GAVE IT TO US TO BEGIN WITH.

Now, we can be used by Him (for the purposes for which we were made). Remember, we were not randomly created to roam the earth and do whatever we want, and then one day die. We were made BY Him, FOR Him and to FULFILL His plans. Remember, Jehovah is efficient (He doesn’t do anything with no specific reason or strategy in mind). Question:  According to 2 Timothy 2: 20-22, were we made as dishonorable vessels or as honorable vessels? Were we created to be used for dishonorable purposes or for honorable purposes? Question:  Are you silver and gold right now in your life? Or are you wood, stone and clay? The LORD JESUS CHRIST spoke about what happens with the useful and the unuseful, the honorable and the dishonorable. Question:  If you buy something like food, or a toy, or a tool, and it doesn’t taste right or it doesn’t work like it’s supposed to (for the purposes which they were made or cooked or bought), what do you do with it?  Matthew 13: 30 says, “Let them both (weeds and wheat) grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned (the dishonorable vessels, the ones for dishonorable use), but gather the wheat (the honorable vessels, the ones for honorable use) into my barn.’” John the Baptist talks about Jesus in Matthew 3: 12 saying,”…He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn (Heaven, the Kingdom of God), but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire” (Hell, the abode of Satan, his demons and the unsaved).

Jeremiah 10: 23 says, ”I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks, to direct his steps.” Question:  What does this mean? It means that the knowledge, desire, will and ability for man to order his own steps (live out his life) rightly is not in him, that he does not possess it. We just learned that the dishonorable vessel cannot be used and must be thrown away, and that the chaff will be bundled up and burned (thrown into Hell by himself, his own choice not to be used, his own desire not to be transformed, to remain in a dishonorable condition- sinful). And we learned that it is not within the grasp, understanding and ability for humans to be honorable, to be 100% pure wheat. SO, WE NEED TO BE SAVED. WE NEED TO BE CLEANSED. WE DON’T WANT A REAPER; WE WANT AND NEED A SAVIOR. That is JESUS CHRIST, THE MESSIAH!

Just as the Apostle Paul told young Timothy to “flee youthful passions” and to “cleanse himself (via the Savior) from what is dishonorable,” we need to do that as well. We need to hear Jesus’ voice and follow after Him (to the end). Luke 14: 33 exhorts us to sober-up spiritually and naturally with these words, the very words of Yeshua (Jesus), “So, therefore, any one of you who does not RENOUNCE ALL THAT HE HAS, cannot be My disciple.” Question:  So, make up your mind right now in this moment, and COMMIT yourself: Will you be dishonorable chaff (to be thrown out and burned—don’t do anything differently, stay your course, remain the same, keep doing just what you are doing)? Or will you be honorable wheat (to be gathered into the barn—repent and be transformed by the mercy of the King of Kings)? Joshua, Moses’ successor, put it concisely this way in chapter 24 and verses 14-15, “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or THE gODS of the Amorites IN WHOSE LAND YOU DWELL. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Today is the day of salvation. The Kingdom of God is at hand. He will come like a thief in the night, in an hour no one knows. Don’t be locked out of the wedding feast. Once the doors close, they will not reopen. Choose life for yourself, and for your children. The WAY has been made. The RANSOM and BAIL have been paid on your behalf. Confess your sinfulness. Acknowledge your guilt. Ask for forgiveness. Be cleansed. Give glory, praise and thanks to God, the Most High!