A Back Away

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Our almost-five-year-old grandson took photos with my camera recently. Among them were a close-up of an old meat grinder and a close-up of one of his favorite snacks, applesauce squeezies.

After taking one of those close-ups, he backed up and said that the second photo was “a back away.”

Some of our discouragements come when we spend too much time looking at things close-up and not enough time looking at things “a back away.”

I am currently listening to the Chronicles of Narnia for the umpteenth time. They are entertaining me for the umpteenth time and convicting me for the umpteenth time. They always seem timely and this hearing is no exception. In fact I keep thinking that everyone needs to read them in the times we are living in right now. They are deeply encouraging to me, reminding me that God is in charge and is accomplishing good, no matter how bleak things may seem at a given time.

Yesterday I was listening to Prince Caspian. As this book begins, the Pevensie children enter Narnia about one year after they were there before, but time is very different in Narnia than it is in our world. When they return, they find that many years have passed in Narnia. Most Narnians have forgotten their history. The land’s wicked leaders are afraid of their history. When one wicked leader learns that a nurse has been telling the old stories to his nephew, he sends her away without even letting them say goodbye to one another.

Each of us needs the past, the present, and the future. We need to know what has happened in the past. We need to live in the present. We need to prepare for and look forward to the future. Thank you for teaching this to your children.

During the last supper, Jesus served people in the present, while knowing that He had come forth from God in the past and that He was going back to God in the future.

Jesus, knowing that the Father
had handed all things over to Him,
and that He had come forth from God
and was going back to God, 
got up from supper and laid His outer garments aside;
and He took a towel and tied it around Himself.
John 13:3-4

We too must take “a back away” view while we trust God with what He sees clearly “a back away.”

. . . let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking only at Jesus,
the originator and perfecter of the faith,
who for the joy set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and has sat down
at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrew 12:1b-2

 

 

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