An Eternal Perspective

Your perspective or view on a matter or situation is crucial to the choices you make. Therefore, it is important to ask yourself: am I viewing this correctly? Can I see what God has in mind?

Consider the choices made by Cain, Esau, and Saul on the one hand, and Noah, Abraham, and Esther on the other. The second group reckoned with God, and their lives became a blessed example to the believers.

The heroes of faith had no interest in accepting deliverance “that they might obtain a better resurrection.” They didn’t have an earthly perspective, but they were full of faith in God and were faithful to the task they had received from God. Hebrews 11.

Thoughts such as “why this?” and “why that?” with all the associated unthankfulness, groaning, and unrest, lie close at hand. If you would like to gain a different and better outlook on your situations and circumstances than your own narrow perspective, there is one essential requirement: a pure or, in other words, an undivided heart!

Jesus Himself says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matt. 5:8. Just think that you are able to see God’s hand in your situation. Those who are pure in heart receive grace and help to see their circumstances from the perspective of their heavenly Father.

That doesn’t mean you get the full picture. But with a pure and sincere heart, you have access to the throne of grace. There, Jesus Himself will help you, and you will see the liberating truth about yourself. There you will be strengthened in your mind, and the word will become living for you. There you will gain insight into the liberating work that God has in mind for you. God chastens us for our own good, so that we may partake of His holiness. Heb. 12:7 and 10-12. That’s an uplifting perspective!

We can also help each other. Imagine receiving the following help and encouragement from your fellow brother in times of trial: “John saw an open door in heaven and heard a voice: ‘Come up here.’ Then, at any rate, what is above will become great, and what is below will be correspondingly little . . . and our affliction will become light and but for a moment.”

Brother Aksel J. Smith also shows us the way in one of his songs:

“A Jacob’s ladder to heaven goes; the rungs are laws God upon us bestows. O let us all up the ladder run, for there at the top is God’s own dear Son.” WotL 321.

Each rung is a commandment we receive from God, precisely tailored to my situation. This ladder of obedience brings us to what we have been called to: victory and divine nature. What a calling! Let us pray for enlightened eyes of the heart so that during our journey on earth we are able to see the hope of the gospel.