An enduring lesson I have learned throughout my 55 years in God's Work is the need to focus on the Big Picture. So many of the brethren— and even fellow ministers and evangelists whom I have loved and with whom I have worked over the years—have fallen away or drifted into apostasy, because they failed to focus on the truly major things. Many had their feelings hurt over comparatively little things. Others were turned aside or confused by rather trivial arguments and ideas. This is disastrous!
It is vital that all of you dear brethren learn to see the truly "Big Picture" in the truths and in the events that God is orchestrating here on earth today. Right now, prophetic events are definitely heading to the final conclusion of the 6,000 years allotted for our humanly devised governments and institutions. But many do not see these things. Even in God's Church, many brethren focus on the "immediate"—on the things that are happening today or tomorrow—and not on the huge underlying events that have happened and are happening in fulfillment of prophecy. Many people focus mostly on the people and ideas immediately around them that are part of their "little world."
These individuals can easily become lukewarm, confused or perhaps even bitter, because of the seemingly "slow pace" of prophecy and their constant awareness of the imperfections of God's people around them. In Proverbs 29:18, God tells us: "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he" (KJV). This need for "vision"—having a concept of the Big Picture and of the future— helps us put all the "little stuff" in proper perspective. This is what God looks at. This is what Christ looks at. If our Father and Jesus Christ, our living Head, constantly focused on all the little faults you and I have, where would we be? And yet, we often focus on the "little faults" of those around us—or the seeming "mistakes" of the ministry, the Work or even of God who seemingly does not fulfill His prophecies according to our schedule! But we need to realize that "our schedule" is often not God's schedule! We need to learn a great deal more humility and patience in dealing with these things in our lives.
In Matthew 24:42–44, Jesus warned us: "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." If we are constantly aware of the Big Picture and if we are truly "watching"—constantly aware of God's purpose and God's intervention in human affairs—we will be enthusiastically anticipating Christ's return and more likely to serve Him with all our hearts. But if—as Jesus outlined in the verses after these— we turn to fighting and competing with one another, putting our minds on the "little stuff," then we are likely to turn aside into confusion and bitterness.
Remember, dear brethren, some of the huge events that only God's true Church has preached and understood for decades:
• The United States and British Empire did become the great nation and "company of nations" as God promised through Abraham. We did win World War I and World War II together. We have controlled three-fourths of the world's greatest developed resources and, together, have been the major force in the world for more than 200 years, until recently.
• Jerusalem was either controlled totally by the Gentiles or was a "divided" city for hundreds of years until 1967. Then, God allowed Israel to gain complete control of Jerusalem and prepare the way for the prophecies contained in Zechariah 14.
• The inspired prophecy of Revelation 3:7–13 about the "Philadelphia" era of God's Church has been fulfilled! God raised up Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong—a visionary and successful businessman— to lead His Church, which had languished in relative obscurity for hundreds of years before. God guided him to go through the "open doors" of radio, the printing press and later television. The true message of the Kingdom of God was broadcast all over the world in a way never done before! Many of us were a direct part of that work. We are now the "remnant" of the Philadelphia era, continuing to preach the full Truth and carrying on the Work, even though the dominant "spirit" or approach of the Churches of God as a whole is certainly "Laodicean."
Remember, God never condemns the Laodiceans for false doctrine. He only condemned them in this way: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth" (Revelation 3:15–16). Sadly, it should be obvious to all with open eyes that most of God's people today fulfill this statement perfectly. Many of them are "good people." But they are not filled with zeal to carry God's message around the world—going through the "open doors" to warn the entire world, and zealously clinging to the full Truth they were taught during the Philadelphia era!
As I have explained before, these and many other enormous prophecies have already come about. Many other events are now under way. And only the Church of God groups descended from Mr. Armstrong's Work understand most of these truths. Now the Work of the Living Church of God is powerfully "trumpeting" the message of the coming Kingdom of God as a "witness" to all the world as best we can—and at the same time lovingly, faithfully preparing a people for God and teaching them the right approach to the very kind of government they will be administering in Tomorrow's World! So we should all praise God and not let ourselves become upset and turned aside by the "small stuff."
As trials and tests come along, we need to truly believe God's instruction through the Lord's brother, James: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing" (James 1:2–4). We must sincerely desire—hard as it may be at times—to learn the humility and patience that God wants us to learn so that we can be in His family forever.
Also, we must constantly read and reread 1 Peter 1:6–7: "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Again, we are instructed to focus on the "Big Picture" as we go through trials and tests. We must get on our knees and beseech God to help us truly learn the lessons of humility and faith that we need to learn, as we are "tested by fire" through the trials and tests that come—and that will come far more in the years just ahead.
When God first called the Apostle Paul, he sent Ananias to pray for him. God told Ananias: "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake" (Acts 9:15–16).
Are you willing to go through trials and tests to prepare for the reward of eternal life in the very family of God? Is it worth it? Will you try to keep your mind on the "Big Picture" instead of letting the "small stuff" upset you and turn you aside? I pray that this may be the case. For God is now giving us time to grow and "ready ourselves" during this period of comparative quietude. I sincerely believe that we are now in the "quiet before the storm." We are getting ready for the end of the age. We are getting ready to finish the Work powerfully, before the Great Tribulation begins.
But our minds must always look beyond the immediate if we are going to make it. Our minds and hearts must always reflect this attitude that the Apostle Paul expressed: "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you" (Philippians 3:13–15).
May God guide, inspire and strengthen all of you to learn this lesson. May He help you to "back off"—mentally and emotionally— from the "immediate" situations around you and learn to focus on the Big Picture. Then, and only then, will you be spiritually mature enough to go through the coming trials and tests and to faithfully "endure to the end" that you may become a full son of God when Christ returns in glory!