ON TO VICTORY Have you ever noticed how the Christian life is a lot like the attempt of a squirrel to cross the road? An old squirrel can make it look easy. A young squirrel tries, but about half way across it sees this huge, threatening car. So it decides to head back to the safety of where it was--no, it won't make it. So it turns back, thinking it has a better chance of reaching the far side of the road after all. But that side is farther away now than it was, and the car is closer. 'Better try to outrun it--play it the safest down the middle of the road. This isn't working either. Make a run for it.' About now, your car is passing over the squirrel, your face winches--you listen for any sound-and you look back in your mirror to check--the little guy made it! And you both feel good. Today I want to look at a passage from Steps To Christ and see how this passage can help us come closer to Christ. Pp. 70-71, or Happiness Digest p.34-35, beginning with, A life in Christ is a life of restfulness. There may be no ecstasy of feeling, but there should be an abiding, peaceful trust. Your hope is not in yourself; it is in Christ. Your weakness is united to His strength, your ignorance to His wisdom, your frailty to His enduring might. So you are not to look to yourself, not to let the mind dwell upon self, but look to Christ. Let the mind dwell upon His love, upon the beauty, the perfection, of His character. Christ in His self-denial, Christ in His humiliation, Christ in His purity and holiness, Christ in His matchless love -- this is the subject for the soul's contemplation. It is by loving Him, copying Him, depending wholly upon Him, that you are to be transformed into His likeness. {SC 70.2} When the mind dwells upon self, it is turned away from Christ, the source of strength and life. Hence it is Satan's constant effort to keep the attention diverted from the Saviour and thus prevent the union and communion of the soul with Christ. The pleasures of the world, life's cares and perplexities and sorrows, the faults of others, or your own faults and imperfections -- to any or all of these he will seek to divert the mind. Do not be misled by his devices. Many who are really conscientious, and who desire to live for God, he too often leads to dwell upon their own faults and weaknesses, and thus by separating them from Christ he hopes to gain the victory. We should not make self the center and indulge anxiety and fear as to whether we shall be saved. All this turns the soul away from the Source of our strength. Commit the keeping of your soul to God, and trust in Him. Talk and think of Jesus. Let self be lost in Him. Put away all doubt; dismiss your fears. Say with the apostle Paul, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20. Rest in God. He is able to keep that which you have committed to Him. If you will leave yourself in His hands, He will bring you off more than conqueror through Him that has loved you. {SC 71.2} Jesus says, "Abide in Me." These words convey the idea of rest, stability, confidence. Again He invites,"Come unto Me, . . . and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28. The words of the psalmist express the same thought: "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." And Isaiah gives the assurance, "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." Psalm 37:7; Isaiah 30:15. This rest is not found in inactivity; for in the Saviour's invitation the promise of rest is united with the call to labor: "Take My yoke upon you: . . . and ye shall find rest." Matthew 11:29. The heart that rests most fully upon Christ will be most earnest and active in labor for Him. {SC 71.1} Now, let us have a closer look at this passage together. 1. When are we to consecrate ourselves to God? ("First thing in the morning") This is before you even open your eyes to confirm you're awake--before you roll over and greet your spouse ... FIRST! 2. How often? ("Daily") 3. For how long? ("For that day") So as you give "your life into the hands of God" it will "be molded more and more after the life of Christ." And this is our goal, isn't it? BY BEHOLDING, WE BECOME CHANGED! Heb. 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 2 Cor. 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Rom. 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. What are we to think about? CHRIST! This is how "you are to be TRANSFORMED into His likeness."Talk and think about Jesus Dwell on the things which are His Be lost in him And you will be transformed His LOVE: Rom. 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 1 Jn. 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us. His PERFECTION of character purity and holiness: Heb. 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The BEAUTY of His character humiliation His self-denial Copy Him (How do we do that? Depend on Father like Jesus did) Satan tries to divert us from the Saviour, preventing "the union and communion of the soul with Christ." How? With: 1. "the pleasures of the world, 2. life's cares and perplexities and sorrows, 3. the faults of others, 4. or our own faults aud imperfections" By separating us from Christ, "he hopes to gain the victory (James. 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Ask for some Biblical characters who were DIVERTED. Samson, Peter, Moses, Saul, Does it happen to us today? Deceitfulness of riches, Pleasures of sin for a season l Loss of a job or the working of two parents Incongruencies or inequities of life Death of a friend or divorce Hypocrisy in the church Repeated failure and sin in your life We can graph it something like this for illustration: YOU Think and Talk SELF JESUS Diversion Consecration Anxiety and Fear Rest, Peace, and Trust Defeat Transformed Now you can powerfully illustrate this by having positioned a slide projector where it shines onto a screen or wall (You may have to use a blank slide, or cut one from cardboard for the projector to shine its light. Be sure to have the distances and movement worked out ahead of time). Move into the light, casting a clear shadow behind you. Now move toward the light to enlarge your shadow. You may wish to highlight these points while you're moving, and repeat the motion, so the points are remembered: Every shadow is black The closer you come to Jesus, the worse you appear The closer you are to Jesus, the brighter the Light Diverted to look at the shadow can be discouraging Far away, the Light looks dim, and we don't look too bad (Why else do some prefer darkness rather than light?--because their deeds are evil.) Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height; 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. CHILDREN'S LESSON Take several flashlights--old, new, ones that work and ones that don't, solar powered, without a bulb.....but particularly a large and powerful one, aud a little penlight type to show the children. Ask, "If in trouble, which would you chose?"--the biggest, brightest, best! Shine the large light into their faces, then move away 20-30 feet to show how the bright light can appear dim. Then also take the little light, showing how faint it may be, but then put it close to their eye to show how bright it can be. The sun is bright, isn't it? But many stars are brighter, just farther away. Because of their distance from us, their light is spread out and they appear as specks in the sky. Have you ever noticed on a cloudy day, the sun actually seems to disappear? What do we say happens? The sun disappeared? What happened to the sun? Nothing. We also say that a cloud is passing over, don't we? Thc same thing is true for Christians. Occasionally, there are dark and troublesome times--but nothing has happened to the Sun-these clouds quickly pass over.