Over July 4th weekend, some of our family went to
the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Chantilly ,
VA.
As I looked at the many aircraft on display, either on the
concrete floor in the dome-shaped building or suspended from its ceiling, I
marveled at the mind-boggling ingenuity of inventors who created such flying machines. It indeed proves the adage that what the mind
can conceive, the man can achieve.
In the museum, we stood under the Discovery Shuttle, gazing
up at the twenty thousand tiles that covered much of the space craft. My daughter looked at me and remarked, “You
know, Mom, every one of those tiles has a number; each tile has a specific job
to do; each tile is like a puzzle piece; it’s made only for a certain
spot. It’s like the body of Christ; God
fits us together, too. Each member has a
certain job to do that no one else can do, a certain spot to fill that no one
else can fill.”
The analogy was profound. I said, “You are so right, Deb; and if a tile
gets damaged, it affects everything.
It’s the same with the body of Christ.”
I thought of the Scripture in I Corinthians 12:12-27 that says the body
is made up of many parts, and one part can’t say to the other parts, “I don’t
need you.” There should be no division
in the body, but each part should have equal concern for the others. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with
it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”
The impressive reconnaissance spy plane, Lockheed SR–71A,
was nicknamed “Blackbird.” Flying at an
incredible altitude of 88,000 feet at more than three and one half times the
speed of sound, it was coated with a special paint containing iron ferrite that
absorbed radar energy instead of returning it to the sender, and made the SR-71A impossible to detect and shoot down.
Speaking of reconnaissance, you’ll remember the account in
Scripture of how Moses sent spies into the Israelite’s promised land, Canaan,
but fearful men spread a bad report about the land and said, “There are giants
occupying the land and there’s no way we can take them. We felt like grasshoppers compared to those
giants and we looked like grasshoppers to them, too!” God was quite angry with them for being
fearful, and those who were afraid died off in the desert and never did get to
enjoy the land the Lord intended to give them.
Of all the original group of Israelites, only Joshua and Caleb got to
enjoy the fruits of God’s promise.
God has sent the Church on a reconnaissance mission as well,
to win souls for His Kingdom. Our
culture can look big, bad, and scary as the foundations of our society crumble around
us. Truthfully, the Church has been too
self-absorbed, too passive, too easily intimidated by loud voices that tried to
discourage and silence us from speaking out on moral issues. The Church has let too much of
the world creep in and take over its thinking.
Little by little, we have retreated with the hope that the world will
finally “like” us if we keep quiet. To
me, the expression, “Can’t we just all get along?” is like saying, “Just agree
there’s no absolute truth. And for Pete’s
sake, don’t cause dissent.” My friend,
the truth is, someone’s values and decisions will always prevail. No, phrases like the preceding one are
calculated to shut up the righteous, cut out their influence from society, and
promote an agenda contrary to the Word of God.
Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer:
I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
It may seem like the devil’s side is winning the day, but
make no mistake: God has already won. I
love Revelation 11:15: “Then the seventh angel sounded: and there were loud
voices in heaven saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms
of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’”
My friends, let’s not be passive or retreat from the
truth. In our spiritual warfare, we
fight from a place of rest in the finished work of Jesus and the authority He
has given us. Let’s run toward the
battle; let’s invade the darkness! How
do we do that?
- Prepare for spiritual battle: read the Word of God daily and make it the priority for your life. Pray and fellowship with Jesus every day. Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7) Ask God for boldness. Ephesians 6:10-18 tells us to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil,…above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”
- Make God’s love a priority everywhere you go. “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)
- Pray prayers of blessing over people; imagine hugging them as you bless them.
- Be a friend of sinners as Jesus was. He associated with them, and always loved them, but always from a foundation of truth. Look for ways to be kind to everyone, just like our Heavenly Father is kind to all. (Matthew 5:45)
- Stand up and speak out for what is right; don’t hide your light under a bushel.
- Stay salty. In other words, keep your flavor; don’t go “flat.” Be a preservative of righteousness in our culture. Perhaps God will ask you to run for public office.
- Obey the Holy Spirit’s promptings.
- Read the gospels and see how Jesus ministered; He’s our example of how to live by the power of the Holy Spirit. Of Himself, He could do nothing. He laid aside his Divine power while on earth and relied totally on the Holy Spirit’s power, just as we need to do. In John 14:12, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
- Read good books by fellow warriors such as Bill Johnson who wrote the book, “The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind: Access to a Life of Miracles.” You will learn from one who lives a life of miracles like Jesus did.
When we know who we are in Jesus, we won’t feel like
grasshoppers next to a big, bad, scary, giant of a decaying culture. Let’s search for the souls of men and women,
boys and girls, and rescue those who are perishing. Let’s bring life and freshness, hope and
healing! My heart’s desire is to learn
to love more perfectly, and do the works of Jesus by putting action to my faith
in His gospel: “As you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at
hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead,
cast off demons. Freely you have
received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8) Let us give Jesus the reward for His suffering! As this simple child’s song says so well, “Be
bold; be strong, for the Lord our God is with you!”
Note: All Scriptures
are taken from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.
Copyright © 2015
Elaine Beachy
Wise council!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dave!
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