Hymn #1159
A Christian’s life is a life of vision. It is a life of being captured by an image — something high, something beautiful, something shockingly new and fresh and satisfying. A believer’s life always starts in such a remarkable way: in love, in revelation.
Yet that is just the beginning. That very revelation — that beauty, that image — has to have the power to change us. It isn’t a static image or a shallow one. It is a deep, living Person deposited in us. When He first saved us, we saw Him in His glory; every day since, we are continually gazing upon Him. In the beginning stage of our Christian life, we were overwhelmed by Him as He captured us; in our maturing years, He is spreading Himself in and through us as He lives in us. That is why each day in our walk, we experience life in a way that we could never experience in ourselves, by ourselves, or for ourselves. We live in and are transformed by His image, His beauty, His glory (2 Cor. 3:18). Such a process makes our faith incredibly expensive, our life truly rich.
You may have thought that your first meeting with the Lord was the peak of your human life. But the truth is that from the moment He met you, He has desired to lead you higher, higher, and higher up — to bring you unto new heights and new vision (Phil. 3:14). Seeing the Lord was our beginning; in our gazing upon Him we constantly see Him anew, gain Him anew. Just like when light hits an object from different angles and it becomes a new image to our eyes each time, so is our experience of the Lord. He is our light, and each time He shines on us through that clear sky between us, all of our memories and experiences are refreshed, new, and efficacious toward our growth in life. He is indeed beautiful to us, and that beauty is deepened in our experience every day in our walk with the Lord.
Saints, let us not lose sight of the vision; let us not become old. Our church life is precious because we have not only seen revelation once, but we live by revelation, and that revelation is powerful to transform us inwardly and outwardly. When I see you tomorrow, I will be new, and you will be new, too! We will never tire of being with one another, of enjoying the fountain of life gushing out in this garden (John 4:14). Just as flowers take in water and sun and grow each day, so is our church life ever fresh and new and beautiful! This picture of the church life is that very same glorious vision of the Lord that captured us on that day long ago — realized, enlarged, and expressed today on the earth.
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 9/15/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)