How Do You See Things?

April 22, 2016

 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”  (Matthew 6:22-23)

When you break down the word perspective, it literally means “to look through” (per = through, specto = look.)  The expression tunnel vision is a good paraphrase for perspective. People with tunnel vision see their objective as if through a tunnel; they are oblivious to all the obstacles and distractions that could keep them from accomplishing their goals and objectives.

Jesus showed us the importance of our perspective when He told us our lives can be filled with joy or with sadness.  Those two awesome opposites are determined by what Jesus calls our ‘eye.’  By the eye Jesus means how we see things. One of the most important questions you will answer is: “How do you see things?”

According to Jesus, if the way you see things is healthy and whole, your life will be filled with joy and light.  If your outlook, mindset and perspective are not healthy, but defective, your life will be filled with darkness, unhappiness, sadness and depression.

God liked to ask the Old Testament prophets:  What do you see, Elijah? What do you see, Ezekiel? What do you see, Jeremiah?  The Old Testament is filled with stories of godly people who distinguished themselves because when God asked them that question they saw what God wanted them to see.

Solomon wrote, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18) A discerning spiritual leader added these words: “Where there is no plan, the vision perishes.”  As the eagle has binocular and monocular vision, we must have a vision which continuously holds in perspective the long view of what God wants to do through us.  We must also have a plan that gives us monocular vision to keep our vision from perishing as we move forward.

Dick Woodward, from As Eagles: How to Be an Eagle Disciple

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Hurting Hearts

January 7, 2015

“… who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”  (2 Corinthians 1:4)

The Apostle Paul has just experienced life threatening persecution when he was stoned in Lystra.  As he describes that experience for the Church in Corinth he gives them (and us) a perspective on suffering.  He writes that there is a kind of suffering that drives us to God and there is a quality of comfort that can only be found in God when the level of our suffering drives us to Him.

According to Paul, an evangelist is “one beggar telling another beggar where the bread is.”  A hurting heart that has discovered the comfort that can only be found in God is “one hurting heart telling another hurting heart where the Comfort is.”

As a pastor when I met grief stricken parents who had lost a child, since I had never suffered that loss I sent a couple to comfort them who had lost a child and found the comfort of God to help them.  Any time your heart is hurting because God has permitted you to suffer, realize that you are being given a credential by God.  As you find the comfort that is to be found in God you are now qualified to point any person with that same problem to the comfort you discovered when you had that hurt in your heart.

Although you will not answer all of the “why” questions until you know as you are known, are you willing to let this perspective bring some meaning and purpose to your suffering?

Or would you rather choose to waste your sorrows?

Dick Woodward, 10 March 2012

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A New Perspective

January 2, 2015

“…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…” (Philippians 1:6)

This is second day of a new year.  A friend informed me that he no longer makes New Year’s resolutions.  When I asked why he said, “My willpower is nearly always out of power.”

The Apostle Paul’s favorite Church was the Church he planted at Philippi.  Having brought scores and scores of people to faith in Christ in that city, he finds himself in prison and unable to have any physical contact with them.  As their pastor he cannot use his powers of reason and persuasion or his spiritual gifts of wisdom, preaching and teaching.  Yet he has an unwavering confidence that they will continue in their faith until Jesus Christ returns.

This confidence is not based on them or on himself.  He believes his positive and upbeat perspective about them because he knows that the One Who began a miraculous work in them will complete what He has started.

The word “perspective” means “to look through to the end.” At the starting gate of a New Year it’s so very important to have healthy perspective.  I’m not thinking about willpower driven resolutions but spiritual goals that only the risen, living Christ can make doable.  I’m talking about what you would like to see Christ do in your life this year.

I have recently learned a new formula for setting goals.  In the context I have established, let the letters BHAG stand for Big, Hilarious, Audacious, Goals.  As you set goals for the New Year make them big enough to let Christ in.  Watch Him work because you have set goals that only He can accomplish!

Dick Woodward, 04 January 2011

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Providential Perspective

December 27, 2013

“Moreover we know that to those who love God, who are called according to his plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good.”  (Romans 8:28, J.B. Phillips)

 
“God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines of never failing skill
He fashions up His bright designs and works His sovereign will.
 
You fearful saints fresh courage take; the clouds you so much dread
Are rich with mercy and will break in blessings on your heads.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense but trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.
 
His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan His work in vain;
God is His own Interpreter, and He will make it plain.”
 

If you ask me for my favorite hymn, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” by William Cowper is my answer.  If you ask me for my favorite verse of Scripture I will point you to Romans 8:28 which summarizes my faith journey with Christ.  As we approach the end of 2013 and cross the threshold into 2014 the combination of this verse of Scripture and the lines of this hymn express the thoughts of my head as I lay in my bed.

At this time of the year I like to look back with reflection, look in with a time of confession, and look ahead with resolution.  Applying the three perspectives these words can reveal what God has done, what God is doing, and what God wants to do in our lives and in our world through us.

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A Prescription on Perspective

August 8, 2012

“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness.” (Matthew 6:22, 23 NLT)

Perspective means “to look through” to the end.  I learned a helpful spiritual discipline on my faith journey when I asked God to give me His perspective of the long view and the forward look.  I now 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.

Robertson McQuilken, a spiritual leader I deeply respect teaches: “It is easier to move to a consistent and problem-free extreme than to remain at the center of tension on any biblical issue, but the truth is often found at the center.”

In an interview Rick Warren 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 have found that when we’re hurting we can often find truth at the center between these two rails of reality.

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