A Matter of Perspective

I had two experiences today that reminded me vividly about perspective.

The first experience occured while showing two friends a picture of people swimming near the edge of Victoria Falls.  One, who has traveled to Africa, remarked, “Yea, I’d like to go to Victoria Falls someday.”  The other, who doesn’t like to travel across the street, countered, “Those people are idiots!”  Both were viewing the same situation, but with a different perspective.

The second experience occured while my stomach was grumbling this afternoon.  I’ve been cutting back my food portions somewhat to lose a little winter fat, and my stomach was informing me of that reality.  I thought at first, “that’s the feeling of a tummy that needs some food.”  But then I thought again & changed my mind, deciding instead that I was feeling abdominal fat burning away and abdominal muscle toning up. Same experience, different perspective.

Every moment of our lives is governed by our perspective. Whichever lens of perspective we use to view an experience with will determine how we see it, how we feel it, and how we react to it.

One of the keys of life is learning to see from God’s perspective, and the Bible gives us some vivid examples to convince us of its importance.  One of the most memorable examples is from 2 Kings 6:

When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

As Elisha’s servant learned, one key to seeing from God’s perspective is realizing that God is at work, even when we cannot see Him.  A second key to seeing from God’s perspective is found back a few pages in 1 Samuel 16:

When they came, Samuel looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.”  But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

From Samuel’s perspective, the tall, handsome first-born son of Jesse was the obvious choice to be annointed King of Israel.  But he found out that “the Lord sees not as man sees.”  God had looked at the heart of young David, & had chosen him. 

Although none of us can claim to be as close to God as Samuel, we somehow think that we can accomplish what he could not: we think we can see exactly what God thinks about another person, for good or for ill.  Yes, we are sure when someone is being unkind, or anxious, or immature, or wise, or spiritual.  We can tell when someone is walking with God and when they are not.

Well, we have to tell ourselves that we can’t:  we can’t accurately judge the thoughts and intents of others. God warns us not to repeatedly, and it ultimately does us no good either. As Paul reproves us in Romans 14:4, “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?  It is before his own master that he stands or falls.”  We will be wiser and happier when we adopt the perspective of not judging our brothers & sisters in little things or big things.

A final key to seeing from God’s perspective is found in Christ’s parable of the hidden treasure in Matthew 13:44—

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

The man in the parable does something that from one perspective looks foolish: he sells all that he has to buy a field.  But this man has a different perspective— he knows that the field holds a treasure more valuable than all he had to give up in order to purchase it.

So it is with life.  As we learn to see from God’s perspective, we will see the treasure in building His Kingdom.  Giving up time or money or convenience or pleasure to see the love of Christ lived and proclaimed throughout the world will not be seen as sacrifice, but as joy & privilege.  As we gain God’s perspective, we will find our lives will become a blessing to others as well as to us, and will be well pleasing to the God whom we love.

You might also enjoy these articles:

1. Moving Beyond “Little Faith”
2. The Total Perspective Vortex
3. Going from Jelly Bean to Jelly Bean
4. Eager to Empty my Pockets