Perspective…..There is an old joke about perspective. “A man was walking through the woods and accidentally knocked over a beehive . The man took off running with the bees in hot pursuit. He came to a mud puddle, jumped in and sank clear to his ankles. That doesn’t sound to deep to you but you don’t know which end went in first. ”
I am learning that the appropriate perspective for me is that God loves me. There is no possibilty of her/his love ever changing. I am powerless over God’s love.
Also that there is no ladder for me to climb to make gains spiritually. I am a new creature right now. That is not saying that I will be a new creature when I die and go to heaven. It is hard for me to receive that. Maybe it is difficult for me because my hubris wants to have a part in my deliverance.
What God wants is for me to accept my newness. To the extent I am confident that I am actually a new creature I am set free and enjoy victory right now. I need faith to make that perspective leap and I do not have faith on my own. No amount of worship or prayer gives me faith. Faith is always, always a gift from God. “Faith.. and that a gift from God [Ephesians 2]. I want to make the focus of my prayers asking God for faith.
George Caywood 