This past Friday started with a phone visit with my dad. He saw on the news that the Spurs had lost. Dad told me that he rolled down the window in his car and heard me weeping and wailing all the way from Ohio. Pretty funny, Dad.
Spurs fans woke up Friday morning with all sorts of feelings, emotions and questions. TV, radio and tweeters were already trying to retire Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan, as if they had no part in the decision! The voices and opinions of so many people who think they know what happened and what will happen in the Spur's future left me down. I finally determined to not listen or read anything. I needed a new perspective. It's just a game, right?
Perspective is understanding something because you see things from a larger frame of reference. It is the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance. (Merriam-Webster) As I opened God's Word that Friday morning, God allowed me to see life from His point of view. I can so easily listen get distracted by listening to so many other voices. After a while, it's hard to know who or what to believe on any given topic!
How do I gain God's perspective on life? Well, I think you need to want God's perspective first. Perhaps, you've listened to a lot of other voices and don't know who to trust. Get a Bible. Get an audio Bible app and listen in your car. Start reading. Start listening. Start meditating on Scripture. The better we understand the ways and nature of God through the Bible, the more God will reveal His perspective. He will give wisdom where wisdom is needed and guidance where guidance is needed.
Secondly, as I pray, I get God's perspective. So, often, my head can be swimming with so many thoughts and opinions of my own and others! But, when I go to God in prayer and get His perspective on a topic, things change. God gives truth. Hope. Encouragement. Answers to my prayers. Peace of mind. It's just amazing!
Finally, God gives me his perspective for how to walk through trials and difficult circumstances. We can so easily ride through life with not a care or worry, until something bad happens. Then, we're left to wonder. Why? How? What now? Those questions are hard to answer in a human sense. But when we go to God for perspective, He has much to say about how to deal with trials! In Hebrews 12:1-2, the writer of Hebrews says "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." That's perspective! Jesus looked past the pain of what he endured to the joy set before him!
Finally, God gives me his perspective for how to walk through trials and difficult circumstances. We can so easily ride through life with not a care or worry, until something bad happens. Then, we're left to wonder. Why? How? What now? Those questions are hard to answer in a human sense. But when we go to God for perspective, He has much to say about how to deal with trials! In Hebrews 12:1-2, the writer of Hebrews says "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." That's perspective! Jesus looked past the pain of what he endured to the joy set before him!
I'm so grateful I got out of my "Spurs funk" pretty quickly. Spending time with God has a way of renewing my vision to what's most important. How about you? If trying to make sense of life and its challenges leaves you scratching your head, perhaps a new perspective is needed.
Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.
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