Friday, October 15, 2010

The Great Awakening

“Death. It is the most misunderstood part of life. It is not a great sleep but a great awakening. It is that moment when we awake, rub our eyes, and see things at last the way God has seen them all along.”

I love that excerpt from Ken Gire’s book “Moments with the Savior”. He references Luke 16:19-31; the amazing story of the rich man and the beggar named Lazarus who both die and experience the afterlife that God awarded each of them as they deserved. God sees our lives, hearts and circumstances from a completely different viewpoint than we do. He always sees with eternal perspective and we are limited by the physical; choosing often to live by what we can see and feel. I believe, however, that learning to train our minds to think with eternal perspective is one of the big steps toward maturity in our relationship with God.

Reflect on what you would view differently in your life if you chose to see things from God’s eternal perspective instead of your own limited one. Imagine all of the things that we allow to consume our thinking and heart that will not matter AT ALL when we are standing face to face with the King of Kings. That is the great awakening. Here is what I envision as being important at that moment:
• Did I love the Lord above all other people and things
• Did I love my family unconditionally
• Were my friends and acquaintances drawn closer to or pushed away from Jesus as a result of their interactions with me
• Did I read and know God’s Word or did I treat it casually and with little significance on how I lived my life
• Did I view sin and righteousness the same way that God does

I think that upon my awakening, those are the things I will care about. I doubt I will be thinking about my job, my possessions or even my activities except how they relate to the above list.

1 Corinthians 13:12 says, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

I think it’s important to realize that according to this verse I am prone to see things a bit out of focus…a poor reflection. Upon my death, my reawakening, so to speak, I will know fully and will be known completely. I realize that due to God’s holiness and perfection, no matter how I live, I will still experience an awakening. I also believe that if I live with an eternal perspective while I’m here my awakening experience will not be one of shock but more of a sharpening of an already held view.

1 comment:

  1. Karen, the eternal perspective is so different than what we can see and feel in our own body, yet it is available to us today through His Spirit! Needed to hear this today, thanks for sharing it! God bless you, Patti

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