Perspectives

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. – 1 John 4:4-6

Have you ever tried to explain an idea to someone and they just cannot grasp the concept? I mean the idea of what you are trying show them doesn’t even make a crack in their comprehension. So, you approach it from another angle and they still don’t get it. Then, all of a sudden, it is like a lightbulb goes off in their head and they can see what you have just spent the last hour trying to explain to them. Now they can see the idea that we found so easy and simple to understand. Why is it so hard sometimes to express an idea that we have floating around in our head?

When we approach an idea, we are approaching it from our own personal perspective. All of the experiences of our life play into that perspective, so unless someone has experienced everything that you have experienced there is a pretty good chance that they will not be able to grasp an idea in the same way. And this is where the breakdown begins. Another factor that comes into play is that verbal by itself is not exactly a perfect mode of communication. Each time you add another form of communication, you increase the possibility that your idea will be grasped and decrease the amount of time it takes to grasp the idea. But you still have to get over the hurdle of perspective, and that is a big hurdle to overcome.

Even though each of us may have our own experiences that makeup our perspective, the Apostle John shares that in reality there are only two perspectives…..God’s and the world’s. If we are of the world’s perspective we cannot see God’s perspective. It doesn’t make sense to us and may even seem to be a bunch of hooey to some people. In order for us to see things from God’s point of view we need to know God. If we know God, we see the world from His perspective and we can discern the truth from the lie that “he that is in the world” tries to convince us is a truth. But we must know God. We must spend time with him, like we would any friend, in order to fully understand where He is coming from. The beauty is that He does understand us better than anyone and has experienced through the Son what it is like to be human.

So who’s perspective are we going to take, the world’s or God’s. There is no middle ground. We are either of God or of the world. If we are of God, then we have a mission to complete. We are to make disciples of everyone who listens to God. This is a really big task and one that the western church has increasingly been very bad at accomplishing. We need to get serious about our mission, because the time is short. As Jesus said, “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” Are we up to the task? We better be, and if not we better begin to become the church that Christ founded. A church that is in the world, but not of the world. A church that storms the gates of hell and will not be overcome by them. A church that prays without ceasing. A church that loves beyond worldly comprehension. The only way the church can be this way is if the people that make up the church are this way.  

Father you are a mighty and powerful God, and yet you wish to be my friend. Just as I am sure you enjoyed your walks with Adam and Eve in the garden, you enjoy the times that I spend with you. Not because You need them, You need nothing, but because You enjoy who I am in You. And like any good friend would do, you lead me back when I become too much of this world. You lead me back to the joy of my salvation. Help me to never lose that joy! Help me Father to introduce You, my best friend, to everyone that You put in my path. Help me to make disciples of you and not disciples of this world.   – Amen