In my last post I pointed out that holding to truth in love can be likened to photography. I also introduced twelve action verbs that describe how we can apply our “camera of faith” to the “scenery of grace.” This scenery is the divine truth, the reality of “the faith.” It is by practicing these twelve action verbs that we hold to truth so that the “film” of our spirit is filled with the divine scenery. In this way, our inner being is filled with subjective faith.

To review, our exercise of subjective faith includes at least twelve items: hearing the word (Rom. 10:14), appreciating the Lord, calling on Him (Rom. 10:12-13), receiving the Lord (John 1:12), accepting Him, joining to the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), partaking of Him (1 Pet. 1:4), enjoying Him, rejoicing (Jer. 15:16), thanking Him (Col. 1:12), praising Him (Heb. 13:15), and overflowing (Psa. 45:1-2).

In this post we’ll go on to consider how we can prepare “our camera”–our faith– to “photograph” the scenery of grace.

Our precious faith, “our camera,” responds to “the truth,” the reality of “the faith” (the scenery) and ushers us into the reality, making the contents of the faith, subjective to us. That is, faith transfers the objective divine scenery onto the “film” of our spirit, making it the substance of our Christian life and experience.

I hope that Holding to Truth in Love will encourage you to take a lot of pictures of the divine scenery and to look at them again and again until they become the substance of your Christian life.

The Truth being “the Scenery of Grace”

The divine truth is the best “scenery.” It’s the scenery of God’s grace. As the reality of the contents of “the faith,” the scenery of grace is the complete gospel from the incarnation of God to the New Jerusalem, the entire contents of New Testament.

The Bible reveals that the infinite God became a finite man of flesh (John 1:1, 14) by the name of Jesus (Matt. 1:21). Jesus was the complete God and a genuine, sinless man (Col. 2:9; 1 Tim. 2:5; Rom. 8:3). He lived a humble life as a lowly man, expressing God’s rich attributes through His aromatic human virtues. He passed through 33 ½ years of perfect human living to make God known to all kinds of people (John 1:18).

He willingly went to the cross and died as the Lamb of God for our redemption (1 Pet. 1:18-19). He was lifted up as the bronze serpent to terminate the evil nature of Satan in our flesh (John3:14). And He died as a grain of wheat, buried into the earth to release the divine life concealed in the shell of His humanity (John 12:24).

He rose from the tomb by the power of an indestructible life (Heb. 7:16) and was transfigured into a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) so that He could breath His divine essence into His believers (John 20:22). It is in His resurrection that we are regenerated (1 Pet. 1:3, 23) to become His many brothers (Rom. 8:29).

He ascended to the heavens to be officially inaugurated into His office of the Lord and Christ (Acts 2:26). Then in His ascension, He poured out the Spirit to baptize His believers into one Body, the church (1 Cor. 12:13).

Now, as the Spirit, He is living in His believers (Rom. 8:9-10), transforming them to His image (2 Cor. 3:18), building them up as His Body (Eph. 4:16) and preparing them to be His bride (Eph. 5:26-27), the New Jerusalem for their eternal marriage (Rev. 21:2, 9).
At the end of this age, He will physically return, just as He ascended, enjoy His wedding, deal with the rebellious, set up His kingdom and then usher in the new heaven and new earth for eternity.

Every aspect of this “scenery” is worthy of millions of pictures. We need to be filled with a rich appreciation for every item of divine scenery revealed in God’s word.

Preparing our “Camera” to “Photograph” this Divine Scenery

Before we go on to appreciate the detailed items of the divine scenery, we first need to know our camera and gain some skill in using it. Otherwise, our “sightseeing tours” won’t be that enjoyable or memorable.

“Holding to truth” requires that we learn to capture this divine scenery on the “SD Card” of our inner being, our spirit.

First, we need to see how our “faith camera” involves all the parts of our inner being—both our spirit and our soul (including our heart). Each part of our being needs to be properly exercised and adjusted in order for us to appreciate the “scenery” and take clear, bright pictures.

Needing a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation

First, we need a proper spirit—Paul calls this a spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph 1:17). For this, God regenerates our spirit with His Spirit at the time that we believe into His Son, Jesus (John 3:6). It is His indwelling Spirit (John 14:17, 20), the Spirit of reality, that guides us into all the reality (14:27; 16:13). Hence, we must use, or exercise our spirit by means of prayer to contact this Spirit (John 4:24) as we come to God’s word so that we can receive God’s fresh speaking which is spirit and life (Eph. 6:17-18; John 6:63).

Needing the Eyes of Our Heart Enlightened

We also need a proper heart (a combination of our soul and the conscience part of our spirit) that is prepared to contact and receive the Lord. Otherwise, it will be very hard for us to “take proper pictures.” We need our heart—our mind, emotion, will and conscience—to be prepared and ready. This is like the uncovering, cleaning, and adjusting the lense of the camera.

1. With a Turned Heart and a Cleansed Conscience. When we turn our heart to the Lord (2 Cor. 3:16) we remove the veil—the “lense” cover. When we confess our sins we clean the lense of our conscience. And when we deal with our mind, emotion, and will through our fellowship with the Lord, we adjust the lense to bring the scenery into clear focus.

2. With an Understanding Mind. The Lord Jesus opened the disciples minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). Whenever we approach God’s word we too need to contact our Lord through prayer and asking Him again to open our mind to understand His word.

3. With a Loving Emotion. We also need to stir up our loving emotion, by fellowship with the Lord. It is to the Lord’s lovers that He is obliged to reveal Himself—just as He did to Mary on the morning on the day of His resurrection (John 20:1, 11-17). It is to those who love God, that He reveals the deep and hidden things, even the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:9-10).

4. With Submissive Will. We need to go on to exercise our will to choose the Lord, that is, to obey His word. If we do not have the heart to do God’s will, to obey Him, He will not feel it necessary to reveal it. The Lord Jesus said in John 7:17, “If anyone resolves to do His [God’s] will, he will know concerning the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.”

May we be reminded to prepare our inner being as our “camera” through fellowship with the Lord in prayer before reading God’s word. In this way the Scriptures will not merely be  the dead letter to us, but the Spirit that gives us life (2 Cor. 3:6). May we always exercise our spirit and adjust our heart in such a way that we contact God and behold the Lord so that we “take the best pictures.” In this way we will be holding to truth in love and growing up into Christ for the sake of His Body. Then our hearing the Word, appreciating and calling on the Lord, thanking and praising the Lord,  and overflowing in speaking and singing of Him we will be a genuine “holding to truth in love” and the “film” of our inner being will be filled with the best “photos” of the divine scenery.