When you are too close, it's hard to get the broader view and to see that the reality of what you see is something vastly different than what you think you see.
Sometimes pulling back from things will give you a different perspective. I have always known that. I'm the kind of person that sees the big picture rather than the details (that's my husband's department! lol). Also, I am very visual. I have discovered how to recognize when I'm "in too deep" in a situation - it's usually if I can't "see" wide enough. I'm not going to lie, sometimes it takes me a minute to realize I'm in too deep. But, Yah has always been faithful to call my attention to this and begins to pull me back. When this happens, I am able to look at how all the details come together. This ability has served me well and I thank the Father that He has allowed me to have it.
In my spiritual walk lately I have pulled back to see the big picture. I once was in "way too deep" if you will. I focused on many things that ended up making me prideful, even arrogant. I zoomed in on how many "boxes" I could check off. In trying to become "more spiritual", I actually became more soulish. In my past surroundings, it was easy to do - sometimes even encouraged. After zooming out to see the big picture, I realized that if I had died in that moment, I don't think I would have entered the gates like I thought I would. Many believers make that mistake - zooming in, in order to start checking off boxes. It reminds me of this parable that Yahshua told:
Luke 18:10-15 New Living Translation (NLT)
10 “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer[a]: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
I was that Pharisee. I had the comfort and ability to pay too much attention to the "checked boxes". I didn't understand the wider view that Yah has for those who want to live by and through His Spirit. Somehow I had it in my mind that because I had so many boxes checked, that my walk lead me to be a "true believer". Did you get that? Being so far in, pride grew in me to actually put classifications on the level of "believer-ship"! There is no such thing to the Father. You are either a believer, or an unbeliever. There are no varying degrees.
After the Father allowed me to pull back, He showed me my fault so I could repent. How dare I have such a spiritual elitist attitude? Now, yes, those things that were checked were very relevant to my walk. I would say, the checked boxes would have been detrimental to me had I not nixed them from my life. But the Father did not make me aware of those things so that I could puff myself up. No! He made me aware so that those things would be written in my heart as a remembrance of how not to sin against Him and live by His Spirit. He did not show them to me so that I could compare myself to others and place myself in a different and elevated category.
Had I stayed deep in the situation I was in and not had the ability to pull back to see the bigger picture, I would have missed that completely!
Oh! And what you saw above? Yep, it's sand! Tiny grains of sand magnified and close up. Amazing. Yah's creativity never ceases to astonish me.....
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