Have you ever had a change of perspective?
Years ago our family took attempted downhill skiing. From the base of the mountain, I felt invigorated by the mountain air to rise to the challenge of gliding down the slope with two thin boards strapped to my feet. Going up the mountain on the ski lift, I began to get terrified as I realized how high I was going, over the treetops of the tall pines. There was no turning back. At the top of the mountain, I gazed down the 10,000 feet and wondered why I thought this was a good idea. My perspective changed from feeling invigorated to tackle the challenge to feeling terrified in just a few moments.
I made it down the mountain and celebrated my achievement. Then my perspective changed again. I willingly choose to ride the ski lift to the top once more. This time I knew what to expect, and how to do it. As my perspective changed, I grew in confidence. In my mind, I conquered the slope.
In the dictionary, perspective is defined as the interrelation in which a subject or its parts are mentally viewed; the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance.
In Essentials for the Faith Journey, the Word of God, prayer, worship and fellowship were given as the essentials for the faith journey. Each of these also impacts our perspective on our life situation.
As we meditate on the promises of God in the Bible, we gain God’s perspective.
Understanding the Word of God isn’t just for head knowledge, but for life application and transformation of our hearts.
Second Timothy 3:16-17 states the purpose of the Word of God.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Prayer keeps the line of communication open with God on the faith journey, improving our perspective.
Throughout the lifelong faith journey, we learn to develop various disciplines of prayer and deepen our relationship with the Lord. In praise, we see the nature and character of God. In confession, we see the personal sin that blocks our relationship with God. Through thanksgiving, we grow in having an attitude of gratitude, thanking God for all He has done. We can present our requests to God, lifting our burdens to Him.Our perspective improves through time invested in prayer.
The apostle Paul wrote about the change in perspective through prayer in Philippians 4:6-7.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Worship is necessary for perspective on the faith journey.
Worship demonstrates our love for God and our surrender to Him and brings pleasure to Him. It brings joy to the heart of God as we praise Him for His character, for Who He is. We learn to love God and worship Him no matter what our situation, whether we’re having a good day or we’re stuck in trials. Through worship, focus changes from our circumstances to God’s character, which changes our perspective.
Jesus taught us to love God with every aspect of our lives—heart, soul, mind, and strength—not just when we felt like worshiping God.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Fellowship reminds us we are not alone, changing our perspective from isolation to being part of a community.
Too frequently we think we are the only one having a tough time and can isolate ourselves from other. This can lead to further discouragement. On the contrary, genuine fellowship connects our hearts with others on the faith journey. It is comforting to know we are not the only one experiencing challenges, needing encouragement.Fellowship happens in community with laughter and tears as we share life together.
The early church in the book of Acts grew because they spent quality time together living out the essential of the faith journey. Acts 2:42 provides a glimpse of their fellowship.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Perspective changes as we grow in our faith.
It also alters according to how close or how far we are to the situation. If we are too close to something, the situation can look overwhelming and unmanageable. If we are too far from the situation, we can overlook details. Proper perspective brings clarity.
Once when I flew to visit my family, I took pictures from the window of the airplane as it ascended through clouds. I wanted to show my young grandson the view from the sky.
The flight began going through low cloud cover. Life-sized objects began to shrink. Variegated layer of dark and lights gray clouds passed by the window.
Climbing higher, the jet flew through the low clouds. Soon I could look down on the smooth clouds. The view of the earth was still obscured; thick grey clouds were below and scattered white puffy one were above.
Rising higher still, the sky got brighter and deeper blue. At 35,000 feet above the earth, the countryside looked like a patchwork quilt. Buildings and vehicles below looked tiny. Clouds were gone. It revealed a totally different perspective than when the plane took off.
When we are too close to our problems, we have a limited view, seeing only dark clouds.
We don’t see the full picture. As we seek the Lord in His Word and prayer, we grow closer to Him. Our perspective improves as we gain more of His point of view. When we look up to God and down on our problems, we gain a better perspective. God sees the whole picture, like seeing the view from the sky of patchwork fields and curvature of the horizon.
To improve your perspective to soar above the low hanging clouds or problems and discouragement, reach for the essentials of the faith journey to help navigate the situation. Having God’s perspective helps us during trials, pointing us to look beyond the struggle to see God at work.
God knows the entire journey—the beginning, the middle, and the end. We see only one small portion, but He sees it all. When we incorporate the essentials of the faith journey into our daily lives, we gain a different perspective on our problems and the world.
