Pastor’s Corner: “His Perspective”
God Wants to Show You His Perspective— Isaiah 55:8 (TLB) – “This plan of mine is not what you would work out, neither are my thoughts the same as yours!”
Imagine that you’re driving up a mountain. The road is twisting and turning, and you’re stuck behind an incredibly slow car. You think, “If I could just see around the corner, I could pass this car.” Then a helicopter flies by and the pilot radios down, “I can see two miles ahead. It’s okay for you to pass.” What’s the difference between you in the car and the pilot in the helicopter? Perspective. The pilot had a much bigger perspective than you. So he could help you know the next move to make. Your relationship with God is the same. He has a much bigger perspective on your life than you do.
God’s perspective helps you understand the big picture—the reasons behind what he does and what happens in the world. Without God’s perspective in your life, it can be full of constant frustration. You spend your days asking questions you can’t answer: Why is this happening to me? Why is that happening to other people? What is the purpose of this? What is the meaning of life? The word circumstance comes from two Latin roots meaning “around” and “to stand. Our circumstances are those things that stand around us, but Christ is the person who dwells within us. Everything we face, He faces. When He is our life, then no matter what happens, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain. We need His perspective. Perspective means “to look through” to the end. I find it helpful to look up and ask God to give me His perspective as I take the long view back at the events of my life. I believe it does wonders for our perspective when we regularly shake ourselves out of our introspective pity parties, look up, and ask for God’s long view perspective of our life in both directions.
A Christian man was asked how he felt about his wife’s cancer. He reflected that he once thought life was a series of mountaintops and valleys, but he has now decided life is like a railroad track. The left rail represents this hard reality: there is always something bad in our life because God is more interested in our character than He is in our comfort. The right rail represents this blessing: there is always something good in our life because God is good and He does love us. I believe that when we’re hurting, we can often find truth at the center between these two rails of reality.
Lord, give us a heavenly perspective on this life. Help us not to be distracted by the things of this world but to constantly turn our gaze toward you. Help us to have perspective and to see with clear eyes both the hardships and blessings of our lives. Lord, as we are tempted to despair over hardships, remind us that you never let us go through trouble without gifting us a measure of your goodness, grace, peace and love. As we reflect on our blessings, help us bless others.
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton & Family