~ The Upside Down Spiritual World ~
Those who
understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ realize that spiritual values are quite
opposite of the our natural values. Values are reversed. Consider some
salvation paradoxes.
Weakness Is Strength
~ God’s strength can be displayed
through us when we realize our own human weakness. “And
lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a
thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I
be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three
times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient
for you, for My strength is made perfect
in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for
Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I
am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
Lost Is Found ~ “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come
after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For
whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is
it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a
man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of
His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his
works’” (Matthew 16:24-27). The
Apostle Paul lost his life for Christ, renouncing everything including his
pride, and suffered in order to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. In the process he found true meaning and
purpose. This passage contains a second
paradox:
Death
Is Life ~ “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to
come after Me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for
My sake will find it’” (Matthew 16:24-25). “Who Himself bore our sins
in His own body on the tree, that we,
having died to sins live for righteousness—by whose stripes we are healed”
(1 Peter 2:24). It is only through death of our personal
desires that we gain true life. Jesus
Christ Himself gave His life in loving self-sacrifice for us. The Apostle Paul
died to his own desires in order to please Christ, renouncing everything
including his pride and suffered in order to proclaim the Good News of Jesus
Christ. In the process he found the
abundant life which is only in Jesus Christ.
Leading Is Serving
~ The way of the Master. Jesus
said, “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you,
let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:26). Jesus gave us the example by His
own life, “Just as the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew
20:28). Self-seeking is really self-losing!
First Is Last ~ “But
many who are first will be last, and the
last first” (Matthew 19:30). “So the last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16a).
Loss Is Gain
~ Martyred missionary Jim Elliot
is famous for his journal notation, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot
keep to gain what he cannot lose.” More than likely this was his paraphrase of
John 12:25 (he knew the Word so well that it may well have been a subconscious
paraphrase). “Whoever loves his life loses it,” [so he gives what he cannot
keep] “and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life”
[to gain what he cannot lose].
Down Is Up
~ In summary, the way up to
heaven includes holding down pride and self-confidence and realizing that you
are a sinner and cannot save yourself. “But God, who
is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when
we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you
have been saved), and raised us up
together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by
grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians
2:4-10).
Humility Is Exaltation ~ “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will
lift you up” (James 4:10). Christians are exalted in
God’s eyes when they possess true humility.
In But Not Of ~ These paradoxes are all related to
this basic concept. Jesus said, “I have given them
Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take
them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:14-15).
consider
these additional thoughts:
“The greatest use of
life is to spend it on something that outlasts it” (unknown author).
“At the root of all
the miseries of mankind is a miscalculation of the value of things” (Benjamin
Franklin, 1706-1790).
“Things which
matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least” (Goethe,
1749-1832).
“I’d rather lose in
a cause that will ultimately succeed, than succeed in one that will ultimately
fail” (Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865).
“There are two
things that characterize the teachings of our Lord. Number one is this:
the worth, the infinite, heavenly, eternal worth of the soul. And the
second one: the transitory, temporal, ephemeral, ultimate worthlessness of
everything else” (W.A. Criswell,
1909-2002).
Finally, one of my
favorites is, “Don’t sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate”
(unknown author).
“Do not lay up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves
break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Are you rich? Eternally rich? What change in your current priorities are
appropriate?
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
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