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The older I get, the more aware I become that life is all about Jesus Christ and not about me. The older I get, the sharper my focus on eternity becomes.  The older I get, the more I see life as it really is.  We should all grow wiser with age because the Scriptures tell us to do so “Teach us to number our days that we may apply our heart unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).  This prayer by the Psalmist should be ours as well.  He sees every day as a learning experience and does not want to lose one moment of instruction from the guiding eye of Jehovah.

Instruction is all around us, but we must be wise and understanding students. We must be attentive to the details for nothing happens without a sovereign purpose, from the falling of the sparrow to the devastation of a hurricane.  The sons of Adam see everything as fate, good luck, bad luck, happenstance, coincidence, or “that’s just life.”  How sad not to be able to properly interpret what is being written or said.  But is this not the nature of those who are blind and deaf to spiritual maters?

As sons of God, we must not fall into such a narrow way of thinking, trapped by human reason, which in essence is atheistic at worst and agnostic at best.  Remember that it is all about Him.  We are not central to the purposes of God.  His glory is central.  This is what I am learning, the older I get.

I never cease to be amazed at the strength of my flesh. Its natural affinity for the world offers no resistance but yields so easily.  This fallen man, referred to by Paul as “wretched,” is so hopelessly entangled with pleasing itself it becomes drowned in its own selfish pursuits.

Thus, we must see ourselves through the lens of Scripture that penetrates the heart where self-examination fails to reach. Scripture affords us the great privilege of looking beyond our natural horizons.  We can see with the eye of faith that which the natural eye will never comprehend.  We can hear the voice of God that our natural ears are deaf to.

We are foreigners to a life of rest, but very familiar with frustration, angst, fear, restlessness and unnecessary busyness. This should not be. If God is our central pursuit, then all that satisfies us will be found in Him.  We are not to be discouraged by our fallen nature but are to rejoice in the power of our new nature, which is born again and takes us out of the kingdom of darkness and places us into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.

” A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.” -Proverbs 11:1

Honesty is a character trait that has undergone radical examination by society, and the verdict is in. Honesty is no longer acceptable as a moral trait.  The more we can shade the truth, cheat on a test, or deceive the IRS, the more we are heralded as clever, which is far more important than honesty.  The tail is now wagging the dog.  Isaiah warns of such times when he says, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

The body of Christ must be above reproach. We must avoid the false balance and see to it that integrity reigns.  Truth sheds light on that which is false.  Our work ethic along with the words we speak must represent the God we serve.  If we put the integrity of our lives on one side of the scale and falsehood on the other side, which side would tip the scale in its favor?  Remember that Christ said, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life.”

IF I WALKED BY FAITH AND NOT BY SIGHT, THEN my faith would be the glasses for my sight. My eyes would look through the lens of faith. Faith would determine what I really see. My eyes would see, but my faith would interpret. My eyes would gaze, but my faith would discern. Rationalization, however, blinds me to this truth. My eyes simply represent one of my five human senses as I desperately want to see, touch, smell, hear, and taste my way through life. Oh, how I want to lean on my own understanding.

If I walk by faith and not by sight, then I will understand that I am to taste and see that the Lord is good. My human senses are not bad. They are God-given gifts in order to get around in this physical world. But they are not good interpreters of the deeper issues of life. Faith allows me to see beyond my natural horizons. When it is said of Abraham in Hebrews 11:10 that he was “looking for a city,” it is not referring to his eyes but to his faith in what God had promised. Jesus also referred to this great man of faith when He said “Abraham saw my day, rejoiced and was glad in it” (John 8:56). It is said of Moses that he could “see Him who is invisible” (Heb. 11:27).

Faith does not nullify nor replace our human faculties. It simply goes beyond what our senses can perceive. My human wisdom can tell me how much I have in the bank, but my faith can tell me the only One I can bank on. My human wisdom can tell me how strong I am, but faith can tell me “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). My human wisdom can tell me how smart I am, but my faith tells me that I have the mind of Christ. My human wisdom can tell me how healthy I am, but my faith tells me that I will live forever.

I will never walk totally by faith. I must learn to grow in this area. Jesus, however, lived in total dependence upon the Father. He never allowed His senses to get in the way or blur what He could see by faith. The gospel places to my account the faith in His account.

Thank God for this sixth sense of faith.

IF I WERE UNBIASED, THEN I would be able to make proper judgments in life without any thought of personal gain. A predetermined outcome would not be colored by desired results. If I were unbiased, then I would always work from the context of what is true and not what I want to be true. I would see all situations that demand me to make a decision as not being influenced by personality, people, friendships, personal benefit, political leanings, or the fact that I live in America. Rationalization says, “Let’s get serious. Who could possibly live under such constraints?” No doubt, being unbiased will be a threat to our character as long as we live.

If I were unbiased, I would want to make sure that I don’t use excuses for my personal prejudices but weigh all matters on the scales of biblical justice. If I love hymns, am I biased to the point that any songs written in the past twenty years must be shallow and lack doctrinal content? If I love praise songs, am I biased to the point that anything written prior to this century must be stodgy, unexciting, and boring? If Scripture is silent on such issues, then preference may rule what I like – but I should never allow bias to rule out what I don’t like. Do I ever find myself interpreting Scripture through the lens of my favorite theological system rather than letting the Scripture speak for itself? Such bias is rude, as I am interrupting God when He is speaking to me, and if not careful I will find myself telling God what He should be saying to me rather than what He is saying to me.

If I were unbiased, then I would work from a level playing field and not from the rocky soil of prejudice. But I don’t even know when I am being biased because my bias overrules any thought that I could ever stoop so low as being controlled by such a demon. I am so thankful that there is one in which “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). It was said of Jesus in John 1:47 that “Here is an Israelite in whom there is nothing false.” He leveled the playing field and helps us have our minds renewed day by day through His unbiased word.

IF I WERE DISCERNING, THEN I would know the difference between Law and Grace. I would certainly know that the law can’t save me, but my discernment would need to go much deeper than that because my entire Christian life is based on keeping these two in balance. Balance, however, has never been the Christian norm, so in order to make myself feel good, I lean on my trusted friend Rationalization to come to the rescue. It helps me feel good about keeping the law because it appeals to my self-righteousness. It convinces me that by keeping God’s law I will move up the ladder of righteousness a few rungs and can then look down on the rest of the motley bunch below me. It tells me that grace is my ticket to do whatever I please.

If I were discerning, then I would know that I am not under the law but under grace (Rom. 6:14). I would also know that Jesus said He did not come to do away with the law but to fulfill the law (Matt. 5:17). The law is also holy and just and good according to Paul (Rom. 7:12). So how do I put these together? Not being under the law does not mean I am free to break the law, but should I do so, it can no longer condemn me. It is not a means by which I obtain God’s approval. God’s grace is the power to live the life that he has called me to live (I Cor. 15:10).

If I were discerning, then I would know I need to have a right relationship to the law and to grace which is provided in the person of Christ. However, if you are like me, then you realize we all lack discernment to fully understand all there is to know about law and grace. But there is one thing I am confident in: I am rightly related to the law and rightly related to grace because I am rightly related to Christ who kept the law for me and by his grace gave me the righteousness that the law demands.