A Year of Looking Up

Another year is upon us; let it be a year of looking up. Let us be heavenly minded and our cares won’t paralyze us. As we look out onto the world, let’s remember that our citizenship is in heaven.

I thought I’d put together a few scriptural reminders, mainly for myself when I (too often) get stuck in a valley. Some of these have been taken from Terry L. Johnson’s recommended book, “The Excellencies of God.”

Focus on eternal things

For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Cor 4:17-18

Do not love the world, or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15-17

A word on Afflictions

According to Terry Johnson,

Our afflictions are not light in themselves. They may be crushingly heavy in our experience. Yet for the spiritually minded, they are light comparatively. They are light when contrasted with “the eternal weight of glory.” Yes, this world is but a “vale of tears.” Yet our hardships are outweighed by glory. Afflictions are a light matter, glory a great weight. (Excellencies, page 257)

Time

LORD, make me to know my end, and what is the extent of my days, Let me know how transient I am. Behold, Thou hast made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Thy sight, surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah. Psalm 39:4-5

So teach us to number our days that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Eph 5:15-17

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Jam 4:14

Treasure

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Mat 6:19-21

He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. Rev 3:21

God our Reward

Johnson reminds us that God is our great reward,

Even in this world we are able to “taste” this future fullness (Ps. 34:8; 1 Peter 2:3) and be satisfied by God’s mercy (hesed) when we awake each morning (Ps. 90:14). Yet when we awake in eternity, our blessedness will be all the greater because of the immediacy of our vision of God and His glory. In heaven, [Matthew] Henry maintains, “the knowledge of God will be perfected and the enlarged intellect filled with it.” (Excellencies, page 265)

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” Rev 21:3-4

Maranatha!