Saturday, December 7, 2019

“Altitude, Attitude, Aptitude"


The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe


 "Altitude, Attitude, Aptitude"


    Altitude determines attitude and aptitude.

    "God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6-7).

   Note the past tense of the Apostle Paul's declaration: born again believers already "sit together in Heaven places in Christ Jesus."  Clearly Paul references a spiritual reality that transcends physical things.  Our bodies are not yet glorified and seated in Heaven.  "We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:23).  Ours spirits, however, united with the Spirit of Christ, already dwell in a reality beyond the earthly and the tangible (I Corinthians 6:17).  Moreover, such "hope of glory" has great impact on our present experience as we walk in faith and devotion to God:

    "If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, that He that raised up Christ shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:10-11).

   Again, remembrance and affirmation of this "altitude" greatly impacts both our attitude and aptitude.  If we rightly believe ourselves to be empowered from Above, we will view life in a completely different perspective than the norm of merely doing the best we can.   "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" (Ephesians 6:10).  We learn to expect our Savior's enlivening presence as the Life of our lives.  We grow in the attitude of confidence that affirms "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me," which leads to His aptitude being revealed in us - "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (Philippians 4:13; II Corinthians 6:16).  Just as the Lord Jesus was "God… manifest in the flesh," so do believers experience the blessed wonder of Heaven revealing its trancendant glory along the everyday paths of our earthly existence (I Timothy 3:16).

   The truth that we already sit together with our Lord in the Heavenlies challenges our understanding.  However, it does not hinder our faith as we recall our Lord's declaration that "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways" (Isaiah 55:8).  We therefore embrace the truth of our spiritual altitude and increasingly find our attitude and aptitude greatly affected and enhanced as we "walk by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7).  Yes, Heaven came to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus, and offers its glories in this day to enable a life lived beyond the constraints of earthly limitations.

"For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son."
 (Colossians 1:9-13)

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
















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