Gaining An Eternal Perspective

Refocusing Your Attention
Pages 224-226

Another lie we may fall for is that our circumstances will never change. If we believe this lie, we will grow discouraged and be tempted to give up when facing seemingly impossible circumstances.

Instead of focusing on the storm around us, the Lord wants us to see His purposes in it, and to embrace Him, trusting that He is conforming our character into something more like His character.

James 1:2-4, The Message, "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."

38. The lie: My circumstances will never change -- this will go on forever.

The Truth: My suffering may last a long time, but it will not last forever.

Psalm 30:5, "For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

Romans 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

In order to walk in freedom, we must exchange our temporal, earthly perspective for a set of heavenly, eternal glasses. Even if nothing changes in our lifetime, the years we experience on this earth are a mere blip on the timeline of eternity.

The Truth: My painful circumstances will not last one moment longer than God knows is necessary to achieve His eternal purposes in and through my life.

Genesis 21:5, "Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him."

The Truth: One day, all pain, suffering, and tears will be removed forever.

Isaiah 35:1, "The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."

Revelation 21: 1,4, "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Summarizing

Regardless of how powerful the forces of darkness seem to be here and now, the final chapter has been written -- and God wins! Believing the Truth about what lies ahead will fill us with hope and enable us to persevere between now and then.