Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 26:3
Have you ever been so busy or embroiled in circumstances that cause the series of events you have lived through to be a blur? I know for many of us, life is much like a war, day to day, battle to battle striving for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I have even joked with my pastor friends about having eternity to rest.
As a New Testament Christian, there is truth in the fact that we will have eternity to rest because in reality Jesus Christ is our rest. In our recent series and vision update on “Perfect Peace,” we contrasted the temporal troubles of the world, the flesh and the devil against the eternal peace provided in Christ as we noted our need to be at peace with God so we can deliver the gospel of peace and be prepared to for the Judgment Seat of Christ. If we are not intentional to be part of making peace through the gospel today, we will be ashamed and suffer loss when the day comes to return, rule and reign with Christ. We offer terms of Peace today because we are slated to return with Christ and establish peace on earth at his second coming.
It is during a season of peace and calm that we can and should take the time for reflection. I have been anticipating preaching from the book of Exodus for a couple of years. But before we dive into Exodus and prepare for departure, I believe God would have me take advantage of this year of rest and peace in our planning cycle to revisit some of the core precepts of our relationship to God and one another.
As we move forward into 2022, God has impressed upon me the need to go back and revisit the Seven Realities of HBF in the month of March as we prepare for the 2022 Vision Conference. In years past, I have described the Seven Realities as our spiritual DNA. That being said, it has been 16 years since I have addressed them in the pulpit on a Sunday morning. It has been seven years since I taught them on Wednesday Night Bible Study.
I’m looking forward to our study in Exodus called “Prepare to Depart,” but God has stirred me up about giving a fresh application to our need to be authentic in our relationships with God, one another, and his mission. While there is such great unity and peace at HBF, it is the perfect time to reflect on who Christ has called us to be individually and collectively as a body.
I would ask that you prepare your heart to receive these messages personally and apply them to your life and ministry so we don’t forget who God has called us to be. It is when the water of the word is placid, that we have the greatest opportunity to see who Christ wants us to be. James says it this way; For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. James 1:23-24
It is important that we allow Christ to be the measuring stick for out lives, families, ministries, and church. As we allow the word of God to sink into our heart, we are changed into the very image of Christ that resides in us through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Paul said this to the Corinthians about reflecting upon the words of God: But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18
Though we have the perfect word of God preserved in our language and we have the Holy Ghost sealing our soul, we still have to deal with the reality of our sinful flesh until we get our glorified bodies. Until that day, when we see Jesus face to face, the measure of our maturation in Christ will be manifest in scriptural charity.
Paul said it like this to the Corinthians: When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 1 Corinthians 13:11-13
Today, we have the perfect law of liberty, but it takes maturity to see clearly and change into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though our bibles are perfectly preserved, we are not…. Yet. We will be, however, in the day we hear the trump of God and are called out to join him and the saints who have gone before us. Until that day, we need to take this time to reflect on the metrics of God’s word that measure our growth and development and see how much God has been perfecting us in love.
God is an amazing master builder and he is doing a good work in us and through us by his grace and for his glory. Make sure you make Sunday Worship Attendance a priority in the weeks ahead as God leads us into the 2022 Vision Conference. God is calling all of us to own his mission in tangible ways that glorify him in time and eternity.