Feet on Earth, Head in Heaven
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Feet on Earth, Head in Heaven

The Challenge of Living in Two Worlds

Duncan

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eBook - ePub

Feet on Earth, Head in Heaven

The Challenge of Living in Two Worlds

Duncan

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About This Book

Norma Jean Duncan found God following a personal revelation of his love. In a life now dedicated to him, she offers her readers an account of her journey that illustrates the difficulties of living in a secular world with a heavenly perspective. Duncan weaves personal reflections into her discussions on the glory of God, prayer, love, forgiveness, obedience, and terminal illness and shows the relevance of scriptural wisdom to the life of every modern believer. There are chapters on eternal scriptural truth, and the factors that corrupt it and lead to the promotion of intolerance and injustice in organized religion. The author examines this difficulty in relation to subjects like creation, sexuality, gender submission, faith and works, the spiritual standing of those who have no knowledge of Christ, and the rise of aggressive atheism. Through discussion of these controversial but important topics, her intention is that the Christian community will lead and not follow the contemporary secular world.

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Year
2012
ISBN
9781621895138
1

Personal Testimony

My testimony is a stark illustration of spiritual blindness and God’s perseverance to overcome such blindness. It is based on a direct revelation of his love, which spiritually and practically turned me around 180 degrees. I was born again in August 2004 after a lifetime searching for him. By then I had wandered up almost every blind spiritual alley there is, but managed by his grace to find the way home eventually. There is a milling throng in all those dead ends and I am hoping by hearing about my Christian journey others will find the way out also.
I was brought up in a typical nominally Christian family. We had a social conscience and tried to do the right thing. Sometimes, especially at Christmas, we went to church; we thought there was probably a God somewhere. Often when I felt my life was out of control, which was most of the time, I prayed to this nebulous God even though I wasn’t at all sure he was there—yet paradoxically I believed in the power of prayer. I attended almost every denomination of Christian church there is. I did a three year Bible study course but I made no apparent spiritual progress and I knew it—now I can see it was extremely valuable because it was the groundwork God laid for my future. It was the promise in two Bible verses that kept me searching and praying:
In Matthew 7:8 Jesus said, “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Jesus repeated his promise in Revelations 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with him and he with me.”
After nearly a fifty year search, in August 2004, God in his grace opened that door and I was overwhelmed by the quality and depth of his love, “my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isa. 55:11).
My conversion came about after a friend died of cancer. At the time the diagnosis was made we were acquaintances but as we walked together over the fifteen months of her illness we became friends. She was a person of great integrity and very stoical and uncomplaining. I was “cut up” as I watched her general deterioration and increasing weakness and understood the inevitability of her death. I prayed feverishly many times a day that God would minimize her suffering and he certainly did this. During the entire time she remained comfortable with very little medication and only needed the stronger drugs by injection in the last six hours of her life. At the same time I was constantly surprised that despite her ill health we would have very happy times together during which the ever present “hanging sword of Damocles” didn’t seem to matter. There seemed to be a very positive loving presence around us such that I said to her in puzzlement on a number of occasions, “You know it seems like there are three of us here not just the two of us.” Following that very strange statement we would both just look at each other as she obviously felt this too, but didn’t have any more of a clue than I had as to what it was all about, and neither of us realized who this Presence was.
A month after she died a professional acquaintance told me of his experience when he looked after a dying friend. In order to explain my delayed appointment with him I had told him only that I had been busy caring for a friend who had recently died of cancer, but other than that I hadn’t discussed any details with him at all. While I listened for some time to him recounting his story, I had the uncanny feeling he was saying exactly the same things I would have said to someone else about my experience. The only significant difference was that although he described exactly the same love surrounding his situation he did not seem to feel this love as a Presence. Shortly before his friend died the friend had said, “It is all about love you know, there is nothing else.” I had assumed my experience could be explained by a very positive rapport between two psychologically compatible people, but by the end of this man’s conversation I realized my friend and I, and these other two people, had been surrounded and supported by something far more universal than that.
For the first time I saw the love of God for my friend, for me, and for every other person. Paul offered this prayer for the Ephesians: “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,” (Eph. 3:17–18). Two thousand years later this intercessory prayer of his was answered for me. As I walked away from the man who had told his story, I felt ten feet tall. It wasn’t until over a year afterwards that I understood that the third presence was Jesus; I had found the pearl of great price. I really came backwards through the recognition of God and his love, to repentance and the forgiveness of the cross. I realized I had failed throughout my life to worship a holy and loving God who had made me in his image for himself. I am forever aware of the enormity of my offence, and humbled by the unmerited sacrifice that has excused me. As I continue my walk with Jesus, the initial glimpse of his love has become an expanse that has no limits.
As one of the slowest of starters, by recounting my story I am like the psychiatrist, who treated his patient with an inferiority complex by giving him the name and address of “someone who is definitely inferior to you.” In other words if I can find God almost anyone can. Personally, I take comfort in the story of the hare and the tortoise. Like the tortoise, despite the poor start I am determined to put in a best-effort finish. It is never too late, now is the time to start living and experiencing the marvelous earthly quality of eternal life available to those who strive to serve God, “now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2).
What Is The Problem?
There has always been a restless anxiety in humankind, a sense of urgency to find something vital we cannot identify but know is missing, and like an itch we cannot scratch it drives us to find relief. The less fortunate pursue worldly solutions like money, fame, and power only to find these things act like accelerants to this smoldering sense of loss. It is only when we seek God and restore communication with him that our soul is satisfied and we find peace. Though made in the image of our Creator, we took on the image of evil. God didn’t change; we did. When we rebelled against God and decided we knew better than he did, we took ourselves away from our Creator, and his power and perfection.
In the beginning he breathed his life into us. It is amazing that in our arrogance we couldn’t see that our breath, which means all of our life and living, is totally derived from God. We seized a spurious independence we didn’t have when we cut ourselves off from our life source. His perfection is complete; it is life, wisdom, love, light, power, holiness, righteousness, and justice. We cut ourselves off from all this when we turned away from God. Without his wisdom we find it almost impossible to discern right from wrong, without embracing his love we are self absorbed, without his power we are helpless, without his holiness we are evil, without his righteousness and justice we hardly care about the disgusting level to which we have sunk.
Like sheep in distress we bleat about our sorry state, but like humans we defend our right to continue in it while blaming everyone but ourselves. Isaiah described our stubborn refusal to open our hearts to God and be healed by him. Even those of us who see the better way, the way it was in the beginning and long for it, without healing we are no longer fit to be with God. We are in a desperate and hopeless situation that only the divine intervention of Christ can address. He is the only way for us to return to our Creator and satisfy the yearning in our soul.
Many of us dither around putting off the day when we will get serious about God. It is such a hard thing to do, it requires much concentrated thought; you can’t have a split focus and hope to come up with clear thoughts about God. We can leave it too late and even when others can see our time is running out we tell ourselves we will do it tomorrow. I agonize over the good-living people I see doing this. I see the warnings God gives them. They come unscathed through major illnesses and “Evel Knievel” car crashes, and still don’t heed the warning. I have seen dementia overtake some so that although still alive they are incapable of making any decisions. Incredibly many people just don’t give their salvation enough priority. Just as the unprepared virgins who ran out of oil for their lamps arrived late and were shut out of the wedding banquet, these unprepared people will also be locked out of heaven and hear the same words, “I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.” (Matt. 25:12). What will it take for people to give their eternal life its necessary priority? I don’t know, but if there is a way God will find it, and in the meantime I can and do pray for them. A friend prayed for me for at least two years before I was born again, so that is a huge incentive for me to pray for others.
Living Life with a Spiritual Perspective
Life in the earthly and spiritual sense has progressed on a bumpy road, but having accepted that I have been made righteous in the sight of God by the death of Jesus, I am now reconciled to God and my relationship with him is restored. I can see life is a spiritual journey, and as I travel the road I don’t take my eyes off Jesus—I don’t want to and I can’t afford to. I know that of myself I am nothing, but in God I am everything. I seek strenuously to dwell in God’s presence, to do his will every day and to recognize the daily ministry he sets before me. Jesus gives us the power to come back from our mistakes, so I try to leave my failures behind and always to go forward. Whatever I achieve is in his power.
In the following pages I have written about the highlights, the difficulties, and struggles I have faced in the everyday application of an emerging faith. I feel I need to do this while it is all still fresh in my mind, even though I still have a long way to go. I have often wrestled with some spiritual issue enveloped in a fog of confusion bordering on despair, only to eventually see a very clear and obvious answer. Hopefully relating this movement from confusion to clarity will help others. Although often encouraged by other Christians there were times when I felt daunted by their faith and spiritual strength. Now that a few years have passed I realize doubt is normal—as we read in Exodus, even Moses had difficulty at times trusting God. I have mentioned some of the mistakes I have made as well as what has worked for me. Much of it may not be relevant to anyone else because we are individuals and God treats us as such. Even so he often teaches us not only by our own experiences, but by the experiences of others.
He will do for everyone what he has done for me. He will “open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” (Mal. 3:10). At the same time Jesus tells us it is not always easy and we should first pause and consider the cost we will incur if we follow him. We need to be prepared for that cost and what form it commonly takes and why it costs. Here is how he described it: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matt. 16:24). The changes in becoming more like Christ can feel like vivisection at times as the Holy Spirit carves out the evil areas in our lives. Some service is a pleasure, as writing this book is for me, while some is heart wrenching and full of hard slog, sacrifice, sorrow, and strain. It hurts to deny oneself in favor of someone else, and with Jesus we suffer with and for others, but God makes provision for all this, “For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” (2 Cor. 1:5).
How does God inspire such supreme devotion in his followers? It is because when we find him, we find treasures that cannot be adequately described, but only experienced. The writers of the Scriptures have managed to give us a glimpse of them to get us started. One such instance is Job’s description of the wisdom of God. He names the earth’s precious gems and says they cannot be exchanged for it, or compare with it in any way.
The first and immediate change I noticed in myself was a growing peace of mind. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27). A big change in my thinking is that I no longer concern myself a lot with tomorrow. I don’t worry constantly as I used to, because now every facet of my life and all my activities are in God’s hands. In particular I have a “too hard” basket God keeps for me and I have learnt to wait patiently for him to sort the items out. Sometimes a resolution is almost instantaneous while some issues have been sitting in the basket for years. It is not my worry. He will show me when and what to do, if anything. My concern is to dwell closely with him so that I don’t miss his reply when it comes.
Recently, allied to this, I have learned to rest in God. Because I am by nature a very anxious and impatient person this was very hard for me—I always want to rush out and solve every problem yesterday. God tells us many times when we live in his will with the purpose of promoting his kingdom that he is the problem solver not us. Also, my ego was dependent on earthly purpose and activity, so God kept me restricted through ill health for several years until I found my purpose and value only in him. This was so hard.
As Jesus takes more and more ground from Satan in my life, benefits like love of others and forgiveness are becoming easier so my mind is more tranquil. When trouble affects a relationship I find myself increasingly distanced from all the turmoil, although not necessarily from the people concerned. I no longer need or want to argue my case, but turn immediately to God in prayer for guidance. Now I know the joy of heaven even in sorrow. Nothing the world can offer us is worth forfeiting this indescribable joy of being with God.
Learning that in the hard times God is working for my spiritual good was a huge breakthrough. As a result I have lost much bitterness, paranoia, and anger. A life locked in negativity is a living contradiction to God’s love. I can enjoy the blessings; I can be thankful for the discipline—especially after it’s over! I agree with Peter when he said that we can rejoice in trials because in this way our faith, which is more valuable than gold, is progressively refined and made more resilient.
Increasingly I see the quality in the things of God, the rubbish in the things of man. More and more I find that many of the harmful things that used to entrance me have lost their attraction. The glittery packaging with which Satan deceived and lured me just looks tawdry. I thought I wanted to be like some of the people featured in the Sunday papers—rich enough not to have to work, with an easy lifestyle of glamour and popularity. Now unless I see God is part of the scene it is repugnant. My perception of the gap between what God stands for and offers humankind, and what Satan stands for and offers humankind is growing ever wider, and I know there is no way to survive in both camps. It is the gap between heaven and hell that the rich man who denied the beggar Lazarus understood too late.
Everything I try to do for God flows back to me in abundance on a wave of his marvelous love; why wouldn’t I do it? God doesn’t need a thing from me but I want to be a delight to him and not an offence. I want to line up somewhere behind Jesus. Daily I see vividly the ever-present miracle of the magnificence, beauty, and intricacy of Creation. I am part of unfolding miracles every day as my prayers small and large are answered. I try not to give God advice on how to solve a problem I lay before him, but still I do it. Then it often makes me laugh at the innovative solution when God steps in, because it is different and so much better than I envisaged. His horizons even in everyday problems are so much bigger than mine. He never works in one direction at a t...

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