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I have mentioned my friend, Ken Baugh, several times in past presentations. I have been blessed to be able to attend a lecture series Ken is hosting called Abundant Living In Christ. You too can connect to these teachings by checking out Ken's YouTube channel. To find it, do a search on Ken Baugh YouTube channel and you should be able to find it that way. You can also check in the text of this podcast for a link I have posted to Ken's YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4yqjWBtrQLsZh4PfRctI6A
In a recent presentation, Ken said the following...
"God’s love is like a mirror. The more we can see our reflection in His love the more we can weather the storms that come against us in ways that aren’t destructive. It is when we interpret our circumstance through the warped lens of our life that we create behavior that isn’t abundant living. When I see myself through the Father’s eyes and think the Fathers thought I will experience more love joy peace and hope."
That first line so resonated with me. Ken said, "God's love is like a mirror." That touches me in such a deep and profound way. I have often said that if I could get close enough to God to see my reflection in His eyes, I think that this world would make so much more sense to me. You see, it is when we view our lives the way God does that our victor status really comes alive.
I need to see my life the way God does or I will be tempted to try and make my life something I I have no business trying to make it be. I have said it over and over again, but anything we do tied to who we are is nothing more than a straight line to victim thinking.
God's love for us is the foundation on which we need to be standing or life just won't make sense. This is especially the case when bad times hit. It is so easy to allow destructive and victim making behavior happen when God's love is misunderstood in ways that make our reflection something we just don't understand.
As I was pondering the fact that God's Love is like a mirror, I started to think about how our image is reflected in a natural mirror. I hope this isn't to wonky for you, but I thought of something about a mirror that I think really does come into play as far as the entire discussion regarding victim thinking and victor living is concerned. Let me take some time to go down a rabbit trail with this thought.
You see, the image reflected in a mirror is actually flipped. Right is left and left is right. The interesting thing is that up and down are not flipped when we look in a mirror. Check it out for yourself. Take a piece of paper and write your name on it. Now, take that paper to a mirror and look at the reflection. Your name is reflected backwards. Left is right and right is left. However, up and down don't flip in the reflection. So, what's so amazing about this little fact? Let me dig in on that point a little deeper.
A mirror returns an image with the horizontal plane inverted. The vertical plane doesn't change in the image that is returned. We live in two planes when it comes to our world. We too have a horizontal and a vertical component as it relates to this life. The horizontal component represent all the things that we come into contact with in this world. Horizontal has to do with our circumstances, the things we choose to do, the linear progression of time in our lives, our interpretation of all that we come into contact with, etc. Basically, the horizontal elements of life are all the physical things that comes our way.
Then there is the horizontal. I see this component as our connection with God. The horizontal represents our relationship with Him. This component of life is a lot harder to explain. It is is made up of more of the mystical things that sometimes scare us in ways that they really shouldn't. Prayer, leading, healing, meditation, and a whole lot more, are all parts of what I see as a vertical connection to our God.
Now, here comes the point that I think really cinches it when it comes to victor living. If God's Love is like a mirror and a mirror returns an image that has the horizontal inverted while the vertical remains the same, then I think we need to view life in this way as well. In other words, the things of this world, those horizontal aspects of our life, aren't always what they seem to be. Left is right and right is left when it comes to seeing our life in the reflection of God's Love. That might mean that the bad times that are happening in our live, when viewed in the reflection of God's Love, actually take on an element of good as far as God is concerned.
That was certainly the case with Jesus. Who of us would ever consider a torturous death on the cross as something good? Bad is all I could ever see from something as horrendous as that kind of demise. Yet when we view this horrible event in the mirror of God's love, victim-hood turns to victory. Left flips to right, bad flips to good. Jesus' death on the cross made it possible for the world to have a hope for life beyond all the mess that we experience here on this earth. That's good news that couldn't have happened were it not for the badness Jesus experienced.
So it is in our lives as well. The reflection of all the badness that is happening in our lives when viewed in the mirror of God's Love might just be part of a plan for good that we just can't see or fully understand at the moment. That's why Ken's statement about behavior is so important when it comes to seeing our circumstances in the reflection of God's Love. It is so easy to react to the badness that happens to us in victimizing ways when we fail to see that God's Love is for us in world flipping ways. It is when we rest on the fact that God's Love is for us whether times are good or times are bad, that we begin to let the power of victor living take over in our lives.
The truly amazing thing is is that the vertical component of God's Love doesn't ever change. Vertical isn't flipped when it comes to our reflection in a mirror. That means His Love for us, and what that love means for us, doesn't change - it isn't reversed in any way shape or form. That's why we can stand on the promises God has for us in the Bible so completely. That's also why we can't directly apply those promises to our natural world. Taking vertical promises and trying to apply them in horizontal ways makes behavior something that just isn't what it is suppose to be in our lives. I want to take that point and expand on it in tomorrow's presentation.
For now, let me close with this Bible verse.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
declares the Lord.
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
When things seem to be turned on their ear in your world, remember you are to look at you life in the mirror of God's Love. Those challenging times have a purpose. I know that doesn't ease the pain of all you are going through right now, but from the vertical perspective, that pain is paying off in big ways. Hang on to who you are in God's eyes. You are His Child and that makes you a victor no matter how much victory seems to be lacking in the horizontal aspect of your life today.
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