We all love figuring things out and understanding how everything around us fits together. Our curiosity and the need to know can drive us to dissect things and pull them apart to see how they operate. This can include our relationships with each other as well as with God. However, God doesn’t operate the same way we do, and His ways are completely different than ours.
Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, God’s thoughts aren’t our thoughts; neither are our ways His ways. We can’t pull God down to our level; we’ll get frustrated if we try. Unlike the world, which judges and condemns us, God shows us grace before appealing to us. This was demonstrated when Jesus showed grace to the woman caught in adultery, thereby giving her the gift of no condemnation.
Under grace, God first reminds us of what He has done; on the basis of that, He then appeals for a life in harmony with His Word. He never forces us or demands anything from us. He beseeches us, by His mercies, to present our bodies as living sacrifices to Him. To beseech is to earnestly request; God always respects our right to choose, but leaves the final decision up to us.
What was true under the law is no longer true under grace. In the Old Testament, Elijah called down fire from heaven, and it killed people. By comparison, when Jesus’ disciples asked Him if they should do the same thing to the people who refused to accept Him, He strongly rebuked them.
When we’re trying to learn how our world fits together, it all starts with Jesus. In Him we live, move, and have our being; born-again believers are God’s offspring. We’re part of the whole body, knit together by what every joint supplies. Using Christ as our frame of reference keeps things in perspective.
Prayer:
Lord, we’ll never get the big picture we need as Christians if we use worldly thinking as our frame of reference. We need to remember that Your ways of thinking and operating are much higher and better; we simply need to align our thoughts with Yours. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Scriptures:
Isaiah 55:8, 9
John 8:3-11
Romans 12:1
2 Kings 1:10-14
Luke 9:52-55
Acts 17:28
Ephesians 4:16, NKJV