Focusing On Who God Is, Not Who We Are

"Be still, and know that I am God!" -Psalm 46:10

If our primary concern is that we be saved from damnation, we are failing to give God the glory that is His due.  Our primary concern should not be with our future, whether heaven or hell, but with the absolute glory of God and with enjoying Him forever, for this is the sun that shines on the narrow path leading to heaven and we are meant to rejoice in its light.  Therefore, knowing that our God is in control of our salvation, not we ourselves, let us lift our eyes up in forgetfulness of who we are, and look instead to who He is.

Consider that the moment you professed faith in Christ (recognizing that even this did not come from you, but was a gift from God bestowed upon you, a gift you did nothing to merit, as stated in Ephesians 2:8,9) God entered your life, cleansed you from all sin, and now your future is secure.  Now, from this point into eternity, there is “no condemnation” because you belong to Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).  If you continue to fret over your own salvation after it has been granted, you only turn your eyes to yourself, staring at your own feet as you walk along the narrow path, missing the glory of God that shines all around you.  You were not meant for this; indeed, you were not meant to consider yourself at all, but rather to consider God and to look outward towards others.  Your position within Christ is not a frail thing to be undone by yourself, much less anyone else: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

I consider it an evil thing that anyone should teach or believe that salvation is not an eternal matter, that by some means it may be undone, that the new creation might unmake itself.  This breeds fear, as no matter how greatly may be one's love for God, one must always consider that the future may yet hold decisions for us that will severe our tie with Him.  How frail we are, how easily we turn inward to our own desires; who can say with any confidence that he will continue to stand with God in the future?  Yet Christ did not offer such poor comfort.  Consider His words:

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” –John 10:27-30

He does not say “they will never perish, unless, that is, they begin to follow me but later turn away and wander off again.”  No, He states that His sheep will never perish.  There is a blessed finality in that statement, and He goes on to press the point by emphasizing that we are within the Father’s hand and there are none who can snatch us away from the hand of almighty God.  Nor, indeed, can we snatch ourselves away, turning from a faith that is only within us because God Himself put it there.

Paul also understood this reality and emphasized it to the church in Colossi, writing “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.” –Colossians 3:1-4

Your real life, that heavenly life hidden with Christ in God, is a certain thing.  So standing in the confidence of this, let us not only cleanse our lives of the stumbling blocks we know to watch out for, but also that preoccupation with ourselves, that fear and uncertainty that we breed within us, which indeed is actually a doubt in the goodness and faithfulness of God to see us to Heaven, and altogether cease thinking of ourselves and focusing on ourselves, of who we are, and instead concentrate on who God is, giving him continual praise and glory and pouring out thankfulness to Him, and let us work to lead others to His majesty.