"A Higher Vantage Point"

 

    Pilots flew to heretofore unknown altitudes in the U2 spy plane program, conducted by the United States in the Nevada desert during the 1950s.  Reaching altitudes of 65,000 feet, they were amazed to discover that the Pacific Ocean could be seen from 300 miles away.

 

     The higher one goes, the more perspective changes and allows for visions unviewable on the ground.

 

     "God... hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4; 6).

 

    Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are said to already dwell in the heavenlies with our Lord.  This references a spiritual reality that transcends time and space, and which we presently have no earthly or physical frame of reference.  We do have, however, the means by which such reality has powerful impact on our present experience.  "We walk by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7).  By the Word of God and the enabling of the indwelling Holy Spirit, believers may view life from a higher vantage point, as it were, than the merely horizontal line of vision afforded by our natural senses. 

 

    "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24).

 

    What does the Bible say about the issues of our lives?  Therein lies the higher perspective whereby we see from Heaven while walking upon the earth.  The more we know and assimilate the Word of God, the more we interpret life by the mind of Christ rather than our limited human reasoning.  We still use our minds, of course, and actually think far more clearly, effectually and indeed, reasonably.  A brain illuminated and energized by the Holy Spirit is a powerful thing, and provides a tool that  powerful impact for dealing with everything in our lives from a lofty position of sight and strength.

 

    When I was a child, some friends and I built a treehouse at the top of a tree that was 10,000 feet high (well, it seemed that high to my young and thrilled eyes).  We could see for miles to neighborhoods and parts of our city that we didn't even know existed.  This didn't compare to the pilots of the U2 program, but the experience was similar.  Little did I know then that our Lord provided a foreshadowing of heavenly things to come in my life.  Because life lived by, in and through the God of Heaven calls us to see things as He sees them, and to respond accordingly.  There is no greater or higher experience of life, and the truth of the matter is that there is no other life.

 

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."

(Colossians 3:1-3)