Perspective?

I was driving along the other day on familiar road. Now this road leads up to a robot on a fairly steep incline. On that particular day as I was approaching the I thought to myself "Gosh, this is weird, this road hardly seems steep at all today".So that got me thinking...was it that the angle of the road had changed overnight? Well clearly it hadn’t. So why then did the road seem much flatter to me that time?

It all boils down to perspective.

And haven’t we all seen how different people re-act differently to the same circumstance? Like in the face of a difficulty some become humble, get angry, stay postive, break-down, get depressed. What drives people to respond in these different ways is what they believe about how life works, or how things are supposed to work .

So what is the cause of these misperceptions? It is what we believe to be true about something that causes us to respond in a certain way. Of course it doesn’t matter how I saw the road, it’s not going to change my life in any way, yet it does matter what we think and believe about God, because it determines how we behave and react to life!

After my road incident I spent a weekend at our church’s family camp where the theme of the weekend was based on the life of Job and what an amazing and perfect example of how the truth about God alters your perspective! What a blow to my self-righteousness. Job was a man that was living his life in a way that pleased God, just minding his own business then WHAM – absolute calamity strikes! He loses all his wealth, his whole family and then finally his health. After that he loses the support of his wife and friends, basically the next worse step would be death (which would have been a relief at that stage). And to top it off, we know that God has allowed all of this to happen! At this point don’t we start questioning God’s goodness? But Job turns to God at this point and says "naked I came from my mothers womb and naked I shall depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. And in all of this Job did not sin." What? Did I read that right?

Job understood the truth about who God is and His place before God! His perspective was not twisted.

This is what he understood. God is God. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, holy, just, perfect, blameless, loving, patient...I could go on! When it comes down to things we not only don’t deserve God’s mercy that He has freely given us through the cross of Christ, but we also don’t deserve anything else from God. Ok you may be thinking, gosh that’s pretty hectic, but it is true. And if you are thinking that, then your perspective is all wrong. You are focusing on the wrong part. We stand condemned, we don’t deserve ANYTHING from God, yet in His love for us he has made a way out. He sent his one and only son to die on the cross to bear the weight of the world’s sin on His shoulders. And every single day He bestows on us, countless blessing (half of which we don’t appreciate). What is not loving about that?

In my life there have been many times I have held on to my own idea of a truth to the point of stubborness. And so many of those times I have been proved wrong! (know what I mean?). So think on this: it may be true that what you are holding on to is in fact not true at all. So does everything come down to perspective or is there any truth at all? I’m so thankful that I have the answer – God’s word! And that’s exactly what it is, His very breath! In it is every true word about everything! To teach us about who God really is and what he has done for us!
Heb 4:12 "For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. "

So now my challenge to you (and mostly myself). Look at God’s word and let it change your perspective, let it change what you think about life and God. Let it ignite your heart in passion for your maker! Let it guide you towards a meaningful relationship with your God!
Psa 119:105 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And light unto my path."
Don’t walk around in the dark...