My Thoughts on Perspective
In 2013, my husband and I traveled to both Israel and Jordan. While in Israel we had the opportunity to actually swim in the Dead Sea. It is so buoyant from the vast amount of salt deposits that you can actually float continuously in the water. Many believe that the Dead Sea is a dead thing, useless and without value. As you might expect, one’s first thoughts of the Dead Sea don’t exactly bring to mind wealth or abundant natural resources. In fact the name alone, the “Dead” Sea, would steer away most people from perceiving it to have any evident value at all. However, the Dead Sea’s unusual buoyancy might well suggest that the region is more than a pool of undrinkable water in the middle of a desert. In fact, in 1935 G.T.B. Davis wrote, “One is almost staggered by the computed wealth of the chemical salts of the Dead Sea. It is estimated that the potential value of the potash, bromine, and other chemical salts of its waters is four times the wealth of the United States”. With that revelation our perception of the Dead Sea now changes to an item of significant value. It is interesting isn’t it, the power of perception and its rapid shift when money or another’s influence is involved? Our core values and convictions mold our perception. If our core values and convictions are skewed with untruths, then our perceptions are not valid. We must first make sure that our core convictions are consistent with the truth that God has revealed to us in His Word. Reading the Bible requires that we change our perspective. Therefore, since man’s perspective will always be limited, we need God’s perspective in everything we do. As we pray for God’s perspective in our decision-making, our minds are enlightened with His revelation allowing us to see things more readily in His truth:
- While we see a man struggling to find work to maintain his family, God sees a man sharpening his skills and strengthening his courage.
- While we see a woman overwhelmed with stress and worry, God sees a confident, strong woman emerging from the ashes of tragedy and sorrow.
- While we see a pitiful, helpless individual without an address or a phone number, God sees someone on the verge of beginning a new life.
I frequently ask myself, am I working from a position of man’s perspective or from God’s perspective? And then I pray that God will align my thinking to His thinking, and that His perspective will be my perspective; when I pray, when I read the Bible or when I disciple others. Only His perspective is without flaw. Only His perspective is the foundation of truth.
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