The Immaculate Perception – kenbarnes.us

Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.
(Zephaniah 1:7 ESV)

Perspective is everything. There is an immaculate perception that has everything to do with your spiritual health in the later stages of our life.

E.Stanely Jones, the Methodist missionary statesman to India, who had two bouts with what he called nervous breakdowns, yet in his later life predicted that his 70s would be a time of most significant accomplishment. His 80s would be a time of greatest influence. Both came to pass. He credits these accomplishments to a change in his perspective. He learned he had to resign as the general manager of the universe.  Instead of gazing at man and glancing at Jesus, he learned to glance at man and gaze at Jesus, and never again had a mental breakdown.

Old age has many physical challenges. Some well-known Christian leaders have become cynical, sullen, and withdrawn towards the end of their lives. As a natural occurrence, we lose people around us, and we may lose ministry opportunities. The late Pastor John MacArthur believed that losing the noise around us is a positive, not a negative. He said that “wisdom only grows in silence” and that “sanctification never goes into retirement.” He believed that toward the end of our lives, God gives us more time for prayer and meditation to prepare us for our heavenly home. Even our physical maladies can provide us with more time to deepen our relationship with Christ. If we have breath, we are still under construction spiritually, and God has a purpose for our lives, to conform us to his image.

  I will be an octogenarian, but it is still  ning, our spirits are growing stronger. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ of my vintage, let’s keep the immaculate perception in our minds and hearts and use this time of our lives to glance at man, but gaze at Jesus.eake

The image is used by permission from Microsoft.

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing and Broken Vessels through Kindle Direct Publishing.
Ken’s Website— https://kenbarnes.us/
Ken blogs at https://kenbarnes.us/blog/
Email- [email protected]