{"id":488,"date":"2020-01-14T20:33:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T00:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/?p=488"},"modified":"2020-01-14T20:33:37","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T00:33:37","slug":"a-view-from-the-top-do-we-really-want-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/?p=488","title":{"rendered":"A View From the Top: Do We Really Want It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
A view from our Florida condo!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

CJ and I have the\nprivilege of renting a condo in Florida this month with a balcony view of the\nocean and sunrise, as well as a view of the sunset! It is one the 9th floor,\nthe top floor of this unit, and I learned it is a \u201cpenthouse condo\u201d because\nit\u2019s on the top floor. This is our first time with a view of the ocean, and it\nis truly beautiful! As we look out and hear the constant roaring of the waves\n(day and night), I recognize that I can see more, and see farther, than most\nother people in this condo unit, and certainly more than those mere mortals\ndown on the ground! I can see why some people fall prey to getting a little\n\u201cuppity\u201d when they have penthouse views, and can somehow think of themselves as\na little better and more special than those who don\u2019t. Of course, for enough\nmoney, anybody<\/em> can have any view they\nwant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, as I\nlook at out at my privileged view, I also realize I have no power whatsoever\nover anything that happens below. When the water is calm (which it rarely is) I\nmay be able to see some sharks swimming close to the beach and somehow warn\nswimmers, but in reality with the crashing waves they probably wouldn\u2019t hear me\nanyway. The beauty and power of the ocean and sky reminds me of the fact that\nGod created all of this, and it beautiful, it is awesome and sometimes\nfrightening, and always beyond our control of what happens below. Most of us\nstruggle managing our day to day lives, and have no control over the\ncircumstances that will come our way in this coming year. So when we make New\nYear\u2019s resolutions of better health, happiness, and even wealth, we may work\ndiligently toward those desires, but also know there is no guarantee of any of\nthat! CJ and I walked these beaches a year ago with no idea that she had stage\n4 metastatic cancer, and no idea that that I would have gall bladder surgery.\nTo be truthful, most of don\u2019t want to know the struggles, suffering, and\nunforeseen circumstances we may face this year. If we did, it would terrify us\nat times and leave us feeling hopeless. So while we all love the ocean and\nmountaintop views of God\u2019s beautiful world, none of us choose to see the view\nof our life into the future, and even if we did, we would not have the power or\nthe strategy to deal with it on our own!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I want to suggest to you a different \u201cview from the\ntop\u201d this year: the one that God has of our lives!<\/strong> God sees and knows everything we do, what we will\nchoose to do, and he knows our future, down to the very moment when we die. This\nis wonderfully good news, because loves us more than we can imagine, and\nultimately wants to redeem us from the chains of sin and give us a new life of\npeace, joy, and his very presence.  <\/strong>As Paul reminds us: 17 <\/sup><\/em> Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,\nhe is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!<\/em> – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)<\/em>(And,\nbest of all, He alone has the power to do all of this!) But in order to receive\nGod\u2019s grace and guidance in our life, we must let him be God, and trust him\nwith every aspect and fiber of our lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Isaiah 55: 6-9 it says,\n6 <\/sup><\/em> Seek the LORD while\nhe may be found; call on him while he is near. 7  <\/sup> Let the wicked forsake his\nway and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he\nwill freely pardon. 8 <\/sup> “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,\nneither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9 <\/sup> “As\nthe heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and\nmy thoughts than your thoughts. <\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s ways and thoughts are much higher than ours, but\nthat means we must recognize three very important implications of this.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) God\u2019s higher ways and thoughts are NOT the same as\nours!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people, and even most\nChristians, began this year with a \u201cbest scenario\u201d wish list. We want good\nhealth, enjoyment for our work and lives, and families that get along well and\nprosper. That\u2019s human nature. But according to the Bible, God sees things\ndifferently. He knows we live in a world stained by sin and under the influence\nof evil. So, ALL of us will struggle in many ways. We will have physical\nailments, we will have marriage and family conflicts at times, and we will most\nlikely all lose a friend or family member to death. It\u2019s probably very likely\nthat of the millions who read my blog (just kidding), at least one of us will\ndie this year. I know, this seems like a \u201cbummer\u201d of a message to start the new\nyear with!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Because God thinks and acts differently than we may\nwish, are we still willing to let him be God in our lives?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people, even we\nChristians, too often worship a counterfeit\nGod<\/em> of our own creation! We want a God who thinks and sees the world just\nas we do. We want him to bless our plans and ideas, and if he doesn\u2019t, we\nquestion his intentions! How often do you hear others say (or say yourself?) \u201cI\ncan\u2019t believe in a God who would allow this to happen to me\u201d, or \u201cI can\u2019t\nbelieve in a God who would judge people like this! Isn\u2019t he a God of\nlove?\u201d  With questions like that, what we\nreally want is a God of our own creation, a projection of our own wisdom, our\nown self. But God calls us to worship his glory,\n<\/strong>which is the combined magnitude of all his attributes and qualities put\ntogether. The glory of God is his infinite beyondness, <\/em><\/strong>meaning he is\nmore than we can ever imagine or even think of! So as good as our thoughts\n& plans may seem to us, he has something far better for us in the long view\nof eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) To truly trust God with our lives and plans, we\nneed to recognize his purpose in everything that happens to us,\nespecially the trials and suffering of life!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

James, the brother of Jesus, reminds us:  2 <\/sup><\/em> Consider it pure joy, my brothers,\nwhenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 <\/sup> because\nyou know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 <\/sup> Perseverance must finish its work so\nthat you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 <\/sup> If any of you lacks wisdom, he should\nask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be\ngiven to him. 6 <\/sup> But when he\nasks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of\nthe sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 <\/sup> That\nman should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 <\/sup> he is a double-minded man, unstable in\nall he does. – James 1:2-8 (NIV)<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

James is not saying to be\njoyful because of trials and troubles! Rather, when you go through trials,\nrecognize and rejoice that God is using that experience as a test of your faith to develop perseverance\nin you. <\/strong>And as you grow in perseverance, God helps you to mature so that\nyou lack nothing, meaning you will have the tools and resources in God to face\nany trail or difficulty that will come your way in the future. God want us to\ntrust him fully every day, so we will have his wisdom and understanding that HE\nis always with us and we are never alone! But when we doubt that, we become\nspiritually unstable and are tossed around by waves of fear, panic, and\nanxiety, crashing down just like I see the waves crashing into the beach all\nday long, totally out of control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul reminds us in Romans\nchapter 8 that God uses everything that happens to us to draw us closer to him,\nto make us stronger and more dependent upon him:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

28 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong> And we know that in all things God works for the good of those\nwho love him, who have been called according to his purpose<\/em><\/strong>. 35\n<\/sup> Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble\nor hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 37 <\/sup> No, in all these things we are more\nthan conquerors through him who loved us. 38 <\/sup> For\nI am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither\nthe present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 <\/sup> neither\nheight nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate\nus from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.-Romans 8:28-39 (NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\nfor this new year in 2020, I wish you much more than what you may have thought\nyou desired. Surely God wants us to enjoy the beauty of this world, whether\nit\u2019s a penthouse view of the ocean or a calm walk in the woods. He wants us to\ncelebrate the wonderful relationship experiences with close friends and family.\nHe wants us to find meaning and purpose and joy in our work and activities. But\nmore than that, God wants us to begin to understand the bigger view of life that\nhe has for us, and wants us to trust him with every area of our life, now and\nforever!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pray that you and I both will remember that everything that happens to us this year, the joys and celebrations as well as the suffering and tragedies, can be used by God to draw us closer to him and make us stronger. Max Lucado said \u201cGod loves us just the way we are; but he loves us too much to leave us that way. He wants us to become like Jesus\u201d. To \u201cbecome like Jesus\u201d, God intends to use every experience in life to mold us, to stretch and change us, and to draw us closer to him. Sometimes those experiences will be wonderful; often they will be painful and difficult. But God promises that all of this, the good and the painful, can lead us to a future of hope and joy and peace, a Kingdom that will last forever and be free of sin and death and evil. But to get there, we have to trust him with all of our life: the good, the bad, and the ugly. We have to trust that he sees and knows and loves infinitely more than we can ever imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are\nwe willing to trust God\u2019s higher and more profound view of our life and world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are\nwe willing to let God truly be God in our life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or,\ndo we just want a God that thinks and acts like us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nchoice is ours, and it will make all the difference in our life this year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\npray this year is one of trust in God, purpose, and hope for you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CJ and I have the privilege of renting a condo in Florida this month with a balcony view of the ocean and sunrise, as well as a view of the sunset! It is one the 9th floor, the top floor of this unit, and I learned it is a \u201cpenthouse condo\u201d because it\u2019s on the … Continue reading A View From the Top: Do We Really Want It?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=488"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":491,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}