Perspective

             Perspective: A particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; point of view


As the years go by, the more I realize that my perspective on life (situation and people) plays a huge role in the way I live out my life....and, the older I get, the more I realize just how easy it is for my perspective to be skewed. Just how easy it is to be sure that something is one way, only to find out it is really another.

You know the old saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side". Until you live on the other side or experience the other side, it's so easy to make assumptions or to see things not quite as they really are. After all, "the grass on the other side still has to be mowed" as the saying ends.

Most often, my perspective goes awry when I don't filter words, behavior, and situations through the Word of God. I watch, listen, take it all in, and then I jump to a conclusion...but, without sifting those thoughts and observations through the Word of God, I am prone to end up with a wrong conclusion or at least a half-baked one. I am prone to think the worst, not believe the best. I am prone to "lean on my own understanding". And that is dangerous ground. As the preaching pastor of my brother's church said this Sunday, "We cannot distrust ourselves too much and we cannot trust God enough!"

Perspective....I think it's one of the reasons that wisdom (typically) comes with age. The older you get, the more you experience. The more you experience, the more you realize how different things are than you thought they would be. The more different they are the more humbled you become. The more humble you become, the more you see your need for Jesus. The more you see your need for Jesus, the more you crave His Words...the Bible. And the more you immerse yourself in the Word....the more you realize that you have only touched the surface of His greatness and you long to know Him more. You long to have His thoughts be your thoughts, His ways be your ways, His perspective be your perspective!

"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and how inscrutable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid? For from Him, and to Him, and through Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen."  Romans 11:33-36

My prayer is that I will filter each person and every situation in my life through the mercy and grace that God has so freely bestowed upon me. That my perspective will not be shaped by my flesh and the sin that so easily entangles my thoughts...but that I will live out the truth that I have "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16) and, with my thoughts taken captive to obey Him, I will "put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience" (Col. 3:12).








Comments

Cindy said…
...against such there is no law.
Thanks Kristin,
Cindy Holmes