Oh, to live our best…
An obscure verse of Scripture has always intrigued me, and every time I read it, I internalize it. Ponder it for yourself…
“And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward…Each level was wider than the one below it, corresponding to the narrowing of the Temple wall as it rose higher. A stairway led up from the bottom level through the middle level to the top level.” (Ezek. 41:7a KJV, 7 NLT)
As Matthew Henry said, “The higher we build up ourselves in our most holy faith, the more should our hearts, those living temples, be enlarged.”
As God’s Temple, our duty is to keep it clean for a most holy faith. So as we live out each level of life, we are learning and growing, ever-widening, ever-fuller, and ever-upward. Homeward bound, climbing heaven’s ladder…
…to live our best.
I love this old hymn…
I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Though some may dwell where these abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till rest I’ve found,
“Lord, lead me on to higher ground.”Refrain:
Lord, lift me up, and let me stand
By faith on Canaan’s tableland;
A higher plane than I have found,
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
Have you ever pondered that higher ground? Climbing each hill of heartache, brokenness, weakness, and loss, we will reach the summit of joy, mendedness, strength, and love.
Oh, to reach that higher ground! We climb, still…
…to live our best.
Charles Spurgeon once said…
We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley when the summit of Tabor awaits us. How pure are the dews of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich the fare of the dwellers aloft, whose windows look into the New Jerusalem!
Many saints are content to live like men in coal mines, who see not the sun. Tears mar their faces when they might anoint them with celestial oil. Satisfied I am that many a believer pines in a dungeon when he might walk on the palace roof, and view the goodly land and Lebanon.
Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition! Cast away thy sloth, thy lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ. Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all thy soul’s range of delight. Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish attainments. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life. Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!
Onward. Upward. To higher ground.
I want to scale the utmost height,
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray, till heavenI’ve found,
Lord, lead me on to higher ground!(Unknown)
I love these three separate lines from a poem penned by an unknown hand…
Still upward be thine onward course…
Still upward as the years go by…
Still upward in this coming year.
Let us not be content to live in coal mines of darkness or dungeons of circumstance, but this year, let us aspire to live a fuller life in the light of the Lord.
Still onward. Still upward. To higher ground.
Oh, to live our best!
May higher ground blessings fill your New Year…Lynn
***portions from Streams in the Desert