You've Won!
Up there, where our gaze "dominates" the whole landscape, what do we feel?
When we look up the route on the satellite navigator, because we know we can confidently manage our journey and reach our destination, how do we feel looking from a high vantage point at kilometres of landscape held in the palm of a hand?
Have we ever wondered what it would be like to look at our life from a high vantage point? Like "watchmen"?
Try to imagine
Watchmen were guards stationed on walls or in a tower whose job was to keep watch and sound the alarm when danger was coming. Their task was to protect the cities as well as the vineyards, the fields and the pastures. To understand this we certainly don't need to join an army or look for an old medieval village.
In the book of Jeremiah, chapter 33, while the prophet was in the courtyard of a prison , the Lord speaks to him and gives him revelations about the restoration of the nation of Israel.
This is to say that it doesn't matter what context or position we're in; even if we were in a prison, even if we were considered "nothing", just as He spoke to Jeremiah, God the Lord reveals to us how He can set our life free and restore it in every way.
In Jeremiah 33:3 there is something very important that God says:
"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."
Jeremiah 33:3
We can make this passage of the Bible our own by learning to be watchmen, seeing our circumstances and their solutions through God's eyes, learning that it is possible to see from a High vantage point regardless of where we are, and that God simplifies and lightens our life. Do you know why?
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Gospel of John 3:16
Are we believing in Him?
Not only cats
Since January this year I've got to know two lovely kittens that I feed every now and then, but I've noticed they still haven't learned to trust me: in fact they only come to the food bowl after I've moved away and turned my back on them.
Many times I've seen myself in my relationship with Jesus like these two kittens: I know Jesus is with me, He takes care of me, but I almost struggle to let go of fear when something threatening comes my way.
In the letter to the Romans the apostle Paul wrote:
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Romans 8:37
With JESUS there is no victory that doesn't belong to us; it means that when we spot adverse situations, like a battle about to come or one we are fighting, we must keep trusting and remember Who has already won for us.
I remember a song that says:
"The victory is ours in the name of Jesus!..."
To this declaration I say Amen! and I'll add this too...
Us Christians too
...We Christians should learn to let go of fear , which in turn gives us false SECURITIES in which we entrench ourselves, but which certainly don't let us live in FAITH in Christ.
We should surely ask HIM what "Kind of Victory" He has prepared for us in the specific situation we are living.
Sometimes we have prayed, and still pray, prayers that are guilty of selfishness, prompted by feelings, experiences and personal desires, and so we raise shouts of victory in the name of Jesus when Jesus Himself has not called us to fight that battle. We don't understand what HIS goals truly are for our life (let alone for the lives of others), and instead of tending our relationship with Him, we fight in His place.
Sometimes we think Jesus is guiding us, but the truth is we have taken His place. We can appreciate the Grace God gives us, because it leads us to SEE again through His eyes and to COME BACK to Living again in the True Freedom Jesus has given us; despite the avalanche of mistakes we make, His goal remains to restore us in His truth, trying to make Himself heard and calling us to climb to the top.
This reflection is for those of us who want to do His will, and for those of us who are learning to win by "losing" the stubborn wish to be considered heroes on this earth, aware that we will receive a prize beyond this "brief moment", earthly life.
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