Back to Front part 1
Doesn't it always seem like Spiritual things are backwards and upside down? It certainly does for me. What would make sense "in the natural" is never the way of the Kingdom. For example, Jesus said, "So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen" (Matthew 20:16). And, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 16:25). Totally counterintuitive to the natural way of thinking. And I think (get it?) that's the point. If we're talking about peace that passeth all understanding (Philippians 4:7), or the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge (Ephesians 3:19), then we really need to let the mind of Christ--that's already in us--BE in us. We need to look at things a little bit differently. We need to see things the way God sees them: Back to front. "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure" (Isaiah 46:9-10). We seem to think everything is linear: First this happens then this happens then this happens. Connect the dots. All in a line. But our understanding of time is different than God's. God exists outside of time. He has always been and He will always be. To Him nothing is in doubt. He is all-knowing (except, you know, our sin. Which He has CHOSEN to forget). Before there was ever a sinner, there was a Saviour. The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. He knows the end from the beginning and is completely prepared for it. Nothing you do ever has or ever will take God by surprise. Jesus wasn't God's "plan B." The cross wasn't something God had to cook up in response to Adam's sin. God's plan was never, "Stay with me in the garden forever," and mad didn't screw up God's plan by sinning. Look at Psalm 90:3, "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men." You can't have a reconciliation story without something to reconcile. And we know that's what God was doing on the cross. God was in Christ reconciling us to Himself. He knew man was going to believe the serpent's lie. And He knew, at the appointed time, He was going to give His Son to bring us back to Himself. It's like the idea of informed consent. We had to experience the world so that we could CHOOSE the Kingdom. Otherwise we would always wonder if the grass really was greener on the other side. But when you've BEEN on the other side, and then you're offered a more excellent way... well... that's something else entirely. The Kingdom doesn't make sense to the "natural mind." The carnal mind is enmity against God. The upside down, backwards economy of the Kingdom only makes sense to the mind of Christ. "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Corinthians 2:13). Try your own way, and when you come to yourself, come back to Daddy's house. The last is the first. Lose your life in order to find it. It doesn't make sense front to back, but it DOES make sense back to front!