Keeping Perspective
1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I had the understanding of a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
My Preamble
I think, there were times this Verse described my spiritual life … perhaps it does for most of us. We start our journey with God the moment we receive Christ as Savior, and the Holy Spirit becomes a part of our lives. It is His job to mature us, to guide us, to correct us, and to constantly remind us of the teachings of Jesus. His convictions about life slowly marinate into our lives, transforming us into the likeness of Christ.
My Story
My journey began in 1970, when, out of desperation, I came to Christ. My life at the time, was under no conviction, no discipline, and no direction. Jesus made everything clear, and my journey with Him began. I had some ups and downs in the early years, but slowly life started to make sense, and as it did, I began to realize I wanted other people to know the transformation that was occurring in my life. That was a defining day for me .. it led me to enter fulltime ministry.
After a period of training in undergraduate work, and then graduate work in seminary, I started to work in the urban community in the city where I lived. I spent many years dealing with the fallout from drugs, divorce, abuse, hatred, and alcohol among the cities lost. I saw the worst that people could do to themselves and others, but I stayed the course, always giving myself to the helping others know Christ.
In time, I was aware that the life of a pastor is not easy, I saw more failure than successes, and often I was tempted to quit. I realized that life for those I was trying to help was hard, but it was equally hard on me to see the little fruit from the effort I put in. Again, the journey told me that I was not responsible for the results of ministry … I was only responsible to deliver the message and leave the results up to God. In the course of developing as a disciple, you begin to pick up religious language, doctrine, practices and beliefs you think will mature your walk with Christ.
I realized, 50 years into my journey (I am a slow learner), most of that religious stuff is non-sense and unhelpful to know the heart of God. The story of Nicodemus in John 3 helped me realize God wants our hearts … not our religion. Nicodemus was a righteous man, full of the practices of religion, but he did not know God. Jesus made it clear; you must be born again to know God … period. No educational degrees, no long careers as clergy, no amount of effort on our part would be good enough to bring us into a relationship with God other than a born again surrender to God.
The Reason It Matters
As I look back, I saw much of my journey with God was like a child learning to navigate life, starting with others at daycare to working as a ministry team in a Church. It was learning, making mistakes, changing courses through correction and for what reason?
Perspective
Perspective is the weighing out the decisions, experiences, and disappointments in life, and seeing clearly the result. For me, the result is where I am spending my life now … keeping perspective about life through the simplicity of faith and practice, and a desire to finish well.
Keeping Perspective
Recently, something shifted in my perspective. I began to realize that what I did when first saved, was as honoring to God as anything else I have done in my life. In those early discipleship years, I was street witnessing, leading friends and family to Christ, and faith really worked. It was simple and raw, but Jesus honored it. What matters to God is not the religious side of life, but the meaningful relationship with Him that influences others to find purpose in God.
Recently, as I listened to our local Christian radio station, I was disheartened to hear the chuckles of radio hosts who think it’s fine to waste airtime doing stupid contests and saying nothing about what really matters. I listened to sermons from Churches whose message is so light and fluffy, I wonder if it influences anyone to become a Christian? Is that judgment? No, it’s perspective. As the Verse states, “As a man I put away childish things,” which means, I have come to know what is important, and what is important is often missed in the ministry today. It’s not the hype, the showmanship, the slick advertisements, and promotions. Perspective is maturing to how we influence people to want change in their lives. The perspective should be … what will Jesus find us doing when He returns? Will we still be playing as children with toys offered to us by our religion?
The perspective of the Church must return to what we did at first, just as Jesus told the Church of Ephesus:
Revelation 2:5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Those were stern words from Jesus, but He does not want us to remain as children in the faith. For me, the shift has begun … it is no longer a day of walking in the security of the past experiences with God, it must be updated and lived out in a fresh new way … every day. “Lord, help us again to surrender to you. Amen!”
Challenging the Culture with Truth … Larry Kutzler