The Big Picture

 

When you are working a puzzle, most people search for the edges and get the edge of the puzzle put together first. The edges with their flat sides are easy targets in a pile of curved shapes. Then, as I flip all the pieces over to expose the picture, I'll pick out several pieces of the same color or graphic on them. After a while, I'll have clumps of like pieces put together. My puzzle then has all these groups floating around inside of the edge not connected to anything. The hardest part, is getting those clumps attached to the edges or together to make the picture come together.

As we can study bits and pieces of a puzzle so too can we study just one aspect of being a Christian. Some are into the history of it, some are into the future and prophecies, some are into the gifts and some are into the behavior of a Christian. However, you cannot see the entire puzzle until you connect all of those pieces together to make the big picture come to life. One of those ahh ha moments happened while I was writing a post. I can see clearly now the path that lay before all of us.

Christ died to pull us out of a separated state. When Adam disobeyed, his children were then born into disobedience and as time progressed, the entire world. We as descendants of Adam, spiritually and in the flesh, were born into disobedience and self. When we are born we are born separated from God spiritually and bodily. His goal for us, is to bring us back to Him. The whole point of Jesus dying on the cross was to satisfy that error made by Adam. By one selfish act, man was drawn away from God and by one selfless act we are reconnected to Him.

The whole point of Israel and their temple, was for it to represent what was taking place in the spirit between man and God. God hid Himself from man, behind a curtain or veil. We as humans all over the world could not see God spiritually within our hearts. It didn't matter what we did, our hearts were dark. When Jesus came to satisfy or erase the errors of Adam, that veil was torn physically inside the temple and spiritually between us and heaven. 

We as physical beings are always limiting our reach to the physical realm but on the other side in the spirit realm where God lives, the importance of what Jesus did for us was immeasurable. It was as if there was a huge door that was locked with us on one side and God on the other. Jesus was the key to opening that door and letting us in. Now, this is where our part comes in. Even thought the door is unlocked, we in faith must walk through. We must take that first step in believing the door has been unlocked. Once we step through the door, our lives change.

The battle ground is in the spiritual places, inside, in our hearts and in our flesh. As our spirit has been saved from death, so now we must have that spirit take control over our physical desires, our flesh. Paul states, that we must sow to the spirit so we can reap a spiritual harvest. If we sow to the flesh, we reap fleshly things.  

I can only put things in a way that I understand, so obviously, I am limited to that understanding. When I first came to Christ, I read the works of Watchman Nee. He was a Chinese Christian who was persecuted for his beliefs over and over again. His sermons and talks have been copied down, translated and offered in books. The link below is an excerpt from one of his books and does a much better job at explaining our situation than I can, so please read it, then come back.

 https://www.ministrysamples.org/excerpts/THE-EXISTENCE-OF-THE-FLESH-1.HTML

So, God has left it up to us to work out our salvation. He has given us an even playing field. Judgement is always about being fair, about giving everyone an equal chance at being good or not. Jesus gave us the chance at attaining righteousness in God's eyes. 

All we have to do is believe, one that we are sinless and two we can overcome the flesh through the power of the Spirit. However, the choice is ours. God cannot be blamed for our failures or temptations or situations. We have been given equal opportunity to find our path to salvation.

What is waiting for us at the end though. As Mr. Nee so eloquently put it, the last thing to be taken care of is our fleshly bodies. Because of our obedience to Him and walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh, new bodies await us. We will get a body that isn't subject to death. It will be an immortal body that never sees pain or suffering or death. It will be His gift to us, our stamp of approval. When Christ rose unto the Father, He received the same body. He could move through walls and be wherever He wanted when He wanted. 

So, I've worked on this post for a couple of days because I didn't really know what to talk about yet I was getting bits and pieces here and there. I'm glad it all came together, kind of like a puzzle.

To God be the Glory!