A Mirror View

To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, If perhaps I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained or am already perfected, but I pursue, if even I may lay hold of that for which I also have been laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing I do: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward. Philippians 3:10-14

The Christian life is a progressing life. No one can claim full maturity as long as he still lives on the earth with flesh and blood. Daily, we must be on a progressing mode, lest we be stagnant and become a dwarf. Surely, no one wants to remain a spiritual dwarf all his lifelong.

As we progress we have a front view of what we should attain to in our Christian life like the apostle Paul, endeavoring to know and pursue Christ. For, the ministry of the word has been continually supplying us with truths, vision, and revelation from the Bible, instilling in us the aspiration and inspiration. However, we must not go on and be satisfied only with the teaching, aspiration, and inspiration. Instead, these truths that we have learned and seen must become our experiences and constitution one day. All our hope, aspiration, and inspiration must become our experiences too. If not now, at least in the coming days and months and years. Otherwise, there is a danger of being hot-headed full of doctrinal knowledge without any reality. Therefore, we must progress through experiences.

As we experience the truths, we will also gain Christ and the Lord will sovereignly lead us through many environmental experiences too. If we keep progressing this way, we will be rich in Christ, be constituted with the word of God, and be filled and anointed with the Holy Spirit. Then, we can have a "rear mirror" view of our Christian life. If this be the case, we will be able to testify with grace how the Lord has been leading us through many trials and temptations, and through many thorns and thistles. Then, we can pinpoint and testify, yes the Lord has led me in this matter and in that matter. Perhaps, in almost all points of truths, we can testify to many people as before God that we have experienced them all, and have a rear mirror view of life.

But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and remind you of all the things which I have said to you. John 14:26

But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming. John 16:13

For this, one of the most urgent need is the progressing in eating the Lord in three aspect; as the passover Lamb for redemption to deal with all our sins and problems; to eat the Lord as the manna who provided us miraculously in time of need in a mysterious way, and to eat the Lord as the good land where we labour and eat the produce and even bring the firstfruit to the Lord as an offering. In these ways, we can progress on and on and view many spiritual things in our spiritual rear mirror view. 

The time span to progress from aspirations to experience may take a long long time as depicted by the life of Joshua. Though God already promised the good land, the Israelites to conquer them took a long time.

Joshua made war with all these kings a long time. Joshua 11:18 

Whatever time it takes, we must progress by progressing in our eating. The day will come when we can have a rear mirror view of the experiences the Lord has sovereignly leads us through.

These are the points I learned in a fresh way in the brothers' fellowship. As the Lord has spoken, may His hand follow me in progressing from aspiration to experience to have a clear rear mirror view. Amen.