Perspective

from Phan, Hy T

Consider these illustrations of the dramatic difference one's perspective   makes:

Hold a color photograph right in front of your nose. All you see is a blur  of colors. As you move the picture away, however, you can distinguish the  people in the picture, the buildings, and the background.

You perceive events in your life the same way. As time passes and the event is further away from your present, your understanding of the experience becomes clearer. Perspective is severely limited when you're too close to an event. All you see is a blur.

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Jason took a trip to New York with some college friends during spring break. One afternoon they all piled into a cab and headed for the Empire State Building. Accelerating into traffic, the driver honked his horn incessantly and careened around corners. To Jason, jammed into the back seat, the ride seemed chaotic and dangerous. A couple of times he felt sure they were all going to die in a head-on collision.

To his relief the wild ride brought them safely to the Empire State Building. Easing out of the cab on wobbly legs, the friends paid the driver and headed inside the building that used to be the tallest in New York. They endured a long elevator ride and a long flight of steps before reaching the observation deck high above the city.

Dazzled by the expansive view from the deck, Jason paused to take it in. Moving to the fence railing, he finally looked straight down to the city streets from which he had just come. To his amazement he saw order and design where, only a few minutes before, he had feared for his life.  Dozens of yellow taxis moved together, stopping at red lights and going at green ones. He could hear no horns at all. It all looked so safe.

Jason was struck with his difference in perspective. Jammed in the cab and immersed in the traffic, he had one view of life. But looking down from the top of one of the world's tallest buildings, he had another.

Being human limits our perspective. We can't sort out the whole picture from where we are in life--only God can. That's why, when he was tempted, Jesus looked to God to get the true perspective. Satan took Jesus to the top of a mountain and told him to look down. "Everything you see I will give you," Satan promised. "All the wealth, kingdoms, and power in the world can be yours" (Matthew 4:8). Jesus turned down the offer, however, because he relied on God's accurate view of how things are. Jesus knew that the entire universe was created for him and that God has destined all the kingdoms of earth to one day bow to Jesus.

When your life seems chaotic and out of control, remember that God sees it all from "higher up." What you see of your little world is too limited to give you the true perspective of an event. The Kingdom of God, on the other hand, encompasses the entire universe for all eternity. Let the view from God's eyes direct your choices and feelings throughout your life. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth...but seek first his kingdom" (Matthew 6:19, 33).

Edited from Still More Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks by Wayne Rice.