(Excerpt from\u00a0Beyond Pretend:\u00a0 A Sheep\u2019s Guide to the Universe! \u00a9 2010 by David Lee Scott. All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
Who is behind the curtain?<\/strong><\/p>\n In the Wizard of Oz,<\/strong> a seemingly thunderous display of power had Dorothy, Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion trembling in their boots until Toto ran over and pulled back the curtain and the great and powerful Wizard of Oz was seen to be merely an old man from Kansas, very mortal, very ordinary.<\/p>\n So who controls your world? But it is also possible that nary a family member would be found behind the folds.\u00a0 What would a quick peak expose?\u00a0 Co-workers, classmates, a favorite professor, your church family, or even your pastor.\u00a0\u00a0 Who is it in your life who knows which lever to pull or button to push?\u00a0 The possibilities seem endless so let\u2019s find some perspective.<\/p>\n A real scene in heaven …<\/strong><\/p>\n A door opens in heaven revealing the throne of God …<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know who the control person is in your life, but somewhere along the path each of us needs to cede control of our world to God.\u00a0 In the text above we see the ultimate peek behind the curtain, a scene in heaven picturing God on his throne.\u00a0 This is not once upon a time, this is then, this is now, this is forever.\u00a0 Take a minute to absorb the imagery.\u00a0 Lightning flashes, thunder crashing, animals prowling …<\/p>\n The throne should give us perspective …<\/strong><\/p>\n No, we don\u2019t understand all of this, but John gave it his best shot, describing things as well as he could, using finite words of humans to describe an infinite God seated on his eternal throne.\u00a0 We should come away from this remarkable scene in heaven with at least two thoughts.\u00a0 One, this is real, there is a throne, someone reigns over our world. He is there and he is God. Two, we can know him.\u00a0 We are not left out in the dark to wonder.\u00a0 We can know more.\u00a0 In fact, we can know the Person on the throne and become part of his kingdom.\u00a0 The King came to earth and invited us to join him.<\/p>\n Our intimate connection with the Person on the throne of God …<\/strong><\/p>\n We have been given his words to live by on this earth,<\/strong> words of salvation and direction that not only are better than gold for our time on the planet but words that hold true and powerful as we step into eternity, even true before this very throne of God.\u00a0 When God instructs us, he sees our lives in the context of everything.\u00a0 When we are tempted to dismiss God\u2019s words, we must realize that his words fit his eternal purpose.\u00a0 Play with the words, play with the purpose of God.<\/strong><\/p>\n When he tells you to love your enemies, he doesn\u2019t only have in mind your daily struggle with an obnoxious neighbor or a demanding, ungrateful boss.\u00a0 He has the \u201cforever you\u201d in mind as he shapes and forms your life.\u00a0 You are the focus of his instruction, and he speaks to you in the context of forever.\u00a0 Loving your enemy is trusting God in the moment and is shaping your life in the context of eternity.\u00a0 Much bigger picture than we see.<\/p>\n \u00a0God speaks to his children in the context of eternity.<\/strong>\u00a0 Can you see how excellent this is?\u00a0 If we have received God\u2019s gift of life, we will one day be before this Majesty, we will be in this picture John describes, an intimate part of what is happening because we will be home.\u00a0 The blood of Christ has bought for us intimacy with the one who sits on this heavenly throne.\u00a0 Too cool!\u00a0 Way too cool!<\/p>\n Please, please, please do not allow these real very images of heaven to lie in obscurity in the back portions of your mind.\u00a0 We need this heavenly video to be a part of our lives as we decide how we will indeed live.\u00a0 No doubt about it that as we persevere in living out the reality of God\u2019s words in the \u201cpre-heaven\u201d part of our lives that things become very complicated.\u00a0 Worlds collide, what is real, what seems real, and all the stuff in between.\u00a0<\/strong> We deal with this world, this reality, this curtain, time and space, our finite nature, our fallenness, our humanness, and if we have received God\u2019s gift of eternal life through Christ, then we have a foot inside the door of eternity … God\u2019s world, ultimate reality, God\u2019s curtain, his veil of holiness.<\/p>\n We live with this constant tension, between two worlds, and God understands, and based upon his thirty plus years on the planet, and the fact that he is God, Jesus perfectly identifies with us.\u00a0<\/strong> How do we live before the reality of a throne in heaven while still on Earth?\u00a0 Learn today\u2019s lessons.\u00a0 The more we trust God in the moment, the more we live in view of forever.\u00a0\u00a0 Trust God in your \u201csmall world\u201d and you will trust him with the whole world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Excerpt from\u00a0Beyond Pretend:\u00a0 A Sheep\u2019s Guide to the Universe! \u00a9 2010 by David Lee Scott. All rights reserved.) Who is behind the curtain? In the Wizard of Oz, a seemingly thunderous display of power had Dorothy, Tin Man, the Scarecrow … Continue reading
\n<\/strong>To help you answer this question, we will examine – Who is behind the curtain?\u00a0 Who is my storyteller?\u00a0 Who edits the film?\u00a0 Who do I worship?\u00a0 So who is behind the curtain in your life?\u00a0 If we were able to pull back this imaginary curtain, what would we see?\u00a0 Maybe it would be a harmless old man from Kansas.\u00a0 Possibly even as an adult, you have yet to discover that your father, grandfather, or dear Grandma, have more sway in your life than God does.<\/p>\n\n
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