Twenty-Twenty Vision!!!

TWENTY-TWENTY VISION

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.-Isa 55:8-9

No...No...Twenty-Twenty Vision has nothing to do with Twenty-Twenty Cricket also branded as T-20 Cricket of which there is no shortage, these days. Oh yes, it was “visionary” of Cricket administrators’ at the helm to have instituted this “Instant” variety of Cricket in this “Instant” age (Instant Coffee, Fast-Food etc) where time is at a premium and hence public at large, are prone to take to Fast-paced Cricketing action packaged and presented over just 3 hours like duck to water. Well, Twenty-Twenty vision is not about having instant “fixes for a problem” but a long-term recourse to an issue which in hindsight would be perfect. Well for those uninitiated in eye-care, “Twenty-Twenty” vision is all about having a “perfect eyesight” (as per the Oxford Dictionary). And who better than our perfect God (Matt 5:48) when it comes to having a “perfect perspective” both in the physical and the more important spiritual realms!!!

A wise soul remarked “We do not see things, as they are but we see things, as we are”. How true!!! What seems absurd in the sight of mortal men, may not be so in the eyes’ of the all knowing Perfect One. In this message, Yours truly has endeavoured to bring to the fore the stark contrast in the thinking of the Worldly wise and the Wisest One in the Universe whose ways and thoughts are far higher than those termed as “brilliant” by the finite World (1 Cor 1:25).

LIMP...

The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.-Gen 32:31

Truth be told, what was Jacob’s spiritual state before his ethereal “wrestling bout” with the Lord (Gen 32:24)? Being an inherent schemer and having cheated many of his near and dear ones’ till then, he was the very definition of a “spiritually lame person”. But only after, he actually started physically “limping” that he began to walk aright spiritually in the sight of his Creator. In the days to follow, he would even become an innocent victim of cheating by his “near and dear ones” (Gen 37:31-35) enduring terrible emotional agony but he himself would never cheat on anyone, putting them to loss. Folks, do not look down upon (a La Job friends’) those fellow Christians who are “limping”, for all we know the good Lord may be using this “limp” to accomplish a greater purpose in their lives (Job 23:10). Consider Apostle Paul’s struggle with a “limp” in his life that seemed for all practical purposes to be seriously “limiting” him but was actually leading to “God’s power being made perfect in his weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).

The outer man may “perish” but if the inner man is being made “stronger” because of the temporary plight of the former...nothing quite like it (2 Cor 4:16)!!!

Oh, wise is the one who views matters of “physical and spiritual” like our Heavenly Father does and prioritizes suitably (I Tim 4:8)!!!

LOFTY...

In the sight of Perfect One, the one who is lowly is the lofty one. Consider this Scripture...

The greatest among you will be your servant....Matt 23:11

Time we dare to re-phrase the “Leadership Training” programs in the Church as “Leadership training in Servant hood”??? Yes!!! Oh to have the mind of the One who washed His disciples’ feet and to think like Him always (John 13:4-14/Philippians 2:5)!!!

Time also for “reverse-ageing” in the Spiritual realm...Consider this Scripture, looking at it very closely...

And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be CONVERTED, and BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

In an individual’s life, after conversion (being made anew in Christ-John 3:3/2 Cor 5:17) starts the process of becoming more and more Child-like as the indwelling Holy Spirit starts chipping away at the rough edges of his pride, self-reliance and manipulative tendencies making him flesh-out in increasing measure the Scripture portion “not by your strength or by your might but by My Spirit” (Zech 4:6) so that on the day of reckoning when he is presented to Him (Eph 4:30) we would come across as one with a total Child-like heart (the one of Adam before the Fall which was all about having child-like trust on the Father exuding absolute humility in the process). Mind you, my observations on becoming more and more child-like need to be tempered with 1 Cor 14:20...the Lord wants us to become more and more simple by the day...not simpletons!!!