Moving from Checkers to Chess

02 May Moving from Checkers to Chess

Blog Series

Moving from Checkers to Chess

Five Steps to Unleashing the Power of an Eternal Perspective

We’re beginning a new series this week: “Moving from Checkers to Chess ~ Five steps to Unleashing the Power of an Eternal Perspective.” Unless we have an eternal perspective, viewing life as God does, we are playing checkers in life while God is playing chess. And, if that’s the case, two things are certain: (1) we will consistently make the wrong moves, and (2) we lose in the end. I’d like to help avoid that.

There are five components of an eternal perspective.

If we understand and embrace these five components, we’ll be able to see reality as God sees it, enabling us to align our life with God. If we do not understand or embrace these five components, we’ll be continually frustrated with God’s refusal to bless our life and get it to go the way we want it to go.

God loves us too much to allow us to go our own way in life and be fully happy. Being like God is the highest good a person can experience, so God’s commitment to us is to do what He can to make us like Him.

If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you’ll recognize that I’ve written about some of these things in the past, but in this new blog series my goal is to put them together into a larger “whole” to give a more complete understanding of God’s will and the importance of living with an eternal perspective. We’ll be putting together all five components of an eternal perspective:

1. We must believe the unbelievable
2. We must embrace the inconceivable
3. We must choose the undesirable
4. We must fight the invisible
5. We must nurture the transformational

Expanding that list of components to the next level, we’ll be looking at:

1. Believe the Unbelievable
   1. You must believe that God exists in spite of the fact that He cannot be proved.
   2. You must believe that God is good in spite of the rampant evil in the world.
   3. You must believe that God loves you in spite of the fact that He does not make your life go better.
2. Embrace the Inconceivable
   1. You must accept your redeemed inner man as holy and righteous.
   2. You must accept your inherent worth as a child of God.
   3. You must pursue God as your only source of ultimate happiness.
3. Choose the Undesirable
   1. You must choose God over personal happiness.
   2. You must choose others over self.
   3. You must choose the eventual over the immediate.
4. Fight the Invisible
   1. Alert: You must be alert to the reality of spiritual warfare.
   2. Armor: You must choose spiritual weapons for spiritual conflict.
   3. Resist: You must be shrewd in detecting spiritual deception and you must not take the bait.
5. Nurture the Transformational
   1. You must carefully manage what you believe.
   2. You must use your mind to change your brain.
   3. You must repeat truth until it changes you.

As you probably already suspect, the first three – the unbelievable, inconceivable and undesirable – are not really so. They just seem unbelievable, inconceivable and undesirable at first glance, according to an earthly perspective. But in reality, they are supremely believable, conceivable and desirable when seen from God’s perspective. So, first we’ll unpack those three from God’s point of view and then explore the final two.

In the end, while you’ll already know much of what will be presented, to have it put together into a larger “whole” so we can see the big picture, can be a game changer. I know, it was for me.

The “whole” becomes greater than the sum of the parts.

For now, let’s take our first steps toward mastering the first component, believing the unbelievable. There are three primary objections to a complete embracing of reality:

1. People don’t believe in God, since He cannot be proved.
2. Or, people don’t believe God is all-good and all-powerful because such a God would not allow all the evil in the world to exist.
3. Or, people don’t believe that God loves them, because if He did, He would make their lives go better. He would protect them from all the pain, evil and suffering they experience.

And, frankly, these are formidable arguments against God. A deeply satisfying and authentic relationship with God cannot be experienced if we have significant doubts about any of these. They must each be credibly answered in order for a person to be comfortable seeing the world as God sees it, and to be able to take even the first steps toward an authentic relationship with God.

So that’s where we’ll begin next week, taking a deeper look at believing in God even if He cannot be proved. Welcome to a life-changing journey. I’ll see you next week.

UPDATE: Get a Moving from Checkers to Chess At-a-Glance-Overview: Click Here

We have been studying these concepts for quite some time (including in some prior blog series), and I am excited to now be connecting all the “moving parts” from those posts and combining them into a “spiritual game plan” in this “Moving from Checkers to Chess ~ 5 Steps to Unleashing the Power of an Eternal Perspective” series.

For an overview of the game plan, so you can see at a glance where we begin and where we’re headed, I’ve created an overview/outline you can download for free: Click Here

For the full discussion of each of the steps, begin with the first post in this series, Moving from Checkers to Chess, and then continue with the following posts thereafter.

Below are two resources I’ve created for additional help in the Christian discipleship journey:

If you know anyone who you think might enjoy joining us in this series, please forward this blog to them and encourage them to go to www.maxanders.com and sign up for the free video, “Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You”, available there on the home page. This will put them on my regular mailing list and they’ll receive my weekly blog.

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