Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV) “Forget the former things; do not
dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
We experience our perspective. Philippians 4:6-9 tells us
that when we take our worries to God, leave them in his more than capable
hands, and focus our thoughts on what is “true, and honorable, and right, and
pure, and lovely, and admirable” we will have peace (this comes from having a
new perspective – God’s perspective). Our
perspective changes when we look to God for his perspective on our
situation. Gaining a proper perspective
requires putting on new glasses. Glasses
that see things through the eyes of Christ.
Glasses that don’t ignore our situation, but that don’t focus on it
either.
Proper Perspective:
A. Sees
Problems as Possibilities: Matthew
14:13-21 (Feeding of 5000)
18“Bring
them here,” he said. 19Then he told the people to sit down on the
grass. Jesus took the five
loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking
the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it
to the people.
Jesus used
the problem of 5000+ hungry people to give the disciples an opportunity to
participate in an amazing miracle. He
saw the lack of food (new glasses) as
a possibility for a divine miracle and an opportunity to teach his disciples
that he was their provider/source (something we need to grasp in our own lives!)
During the Civil War, General Robert
E. Lee had a shortage of soldiers. His army could be devastated if the Union
army discovered this weakness. Since he could not increase the number of
soldiers, he decided he could make his army look larger than it actually was.
He loaded troops on trains and
transported them to different places. At every train station, the same
Confederate soldiers were unloaded from the trains. It appeared that new troops
were being transported in to be added to the Rebel army.
The Union forces became confused and
afraid because they believed the South had a much larger army than they
actually had. General Lee hadn't made his army any larger or more powerful. He
was simply using a psychological tactic to discourage the Union army. And it
worked. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers,
2003, 76)
In this
story, we see that General Lee used his shortage of men as an opportunity to
confuse the Union soldiers. He didn't
sit around looking at his small army in despair; instead he looked through new
glasses, saw the possibilities and capitalized on them. His strategy paid off that day.
We too need
to see the problems we face as possibilities. Possibilities for: God to shine,
our faith to grow, our witness to be increased, our flesh to die, His strength
to be made perfect in our weakness, etc.
B. Sees Failures as Stepping Stones: (Abraham, Moses, David,
and Peter)
Genesis 12:10 – 13:2: When Abraham should have waited on the
promise of God for a son; he listened to Sarah, took another wife, and had a
son (who was not the son of Promise). We
know from the Word that Abraham became the father of many nations and that all
of us, Jews and Gentiles alike, are blessed through him. It was through Abraham’s seed that the
Messiah was born!
Exodus 2:11-15: Moses, in trying to help his people, ran
ahead of the Lord and killed the Egyptian. Moses fled and lived on the backside of the
desert for 40 years, however, we see him return to Egypt and do things God’s
way. This led to the deliverance of the
Hebrew children from 400+ years of slavery.
2 Samuel 11:5-27: When David should have been out in the
field of battle, he stayed home and committed adultery with Bathsheba and then
plotted the murder of her husband. The
child conceived as a result of the adultery died, however, God used this unholy
union to bring about the birth of the wisest man who ever lived – Solomon.
John 18:15-27: Peter, in spite of his self-confidence and
his great boast, denied the Lord, as did the rest of the disciples who fled
before the evening of our Lord’s arrest was over. The Bible goes on to tell us
in Acts 2:14-42 that Peter did not stay down, but preached on the Day of Pentecost
and 3000 people came to saving knowledge of Christ that day. Peter went on to be used by the Holy Spirit to
minister to the Jews as well as to pen 1&2 Peter.
The enemy tries to capitalize on our failures and to tries
to convince us that they mean we are failures.
This is not true at all. If it
was, from the worlds perspective, Jesus would have been the biggest failure to
every live. He had the opportunity to
change the physical world by overthrowing the Romans and freeing the Jewish people. He had a huge following. He could have had fame, fortune, etc. Instead, he died alone on a cross, the worst
death the Romans could inflict on a person.
His followers all fled and left him when things got tough. The crowds he had healed, fed, and loved all
turned on him and demanded his death.
We see however, that Jesus’ perceived failure brought life and
salvation to all mankind. His failure
paid the price for our freedom, peace, healing, for our very life!
Failure is not final; it is a stepping stone to our
future.
Today Lord, we ask you to change our perspective. Give us the eyes of Christ to see things as
you see them. Help us to focus on your
perspective not on our own!
All Scripture is NLT unless otherwise stated.
No comments:
Post a Comment