Perspective
For our light and momentary troubles are
achieving for us an eternal glory
that
far outweighs them all.
2
Corinthians 4:17 (NIV)
Maria
Aristidou was working on a commission one day, using watercolors, when she
spilled her coffee onto the canvas. A terrible accident and a waste of time and
product, you might think. But as Maria stared at the soiled picture, an idea
began to germinate in her mind. Rather than tossing out the canvas, she used
the coffee and coffee grounds to create a different sort of painting. Her work
is now entirely made from coffee and coffee grounds and has become famous in
the art world. A spill turned into a piece of art. [i]
Isn’t
that what God has been doing since the dawn of time? He takes hopeless
situations and transforms them into something much more beautiful than we could
have imagined. As humans, it’s tempting to look at the bad rather than try to
find the good in less than ideal situations. Yet God’s perspective is so different
from our own.
My
son Benjamin attended a Christian camp for children with autism. One of his
favorite takeaways, besides the wonderful memories of fishing and swimming, is
a purple T-shirt. If you look at it with the collar up and the waistline down, it
reads, “For the wages of sin is death.” When you turn the shirt upside down,
the lettering says, “But the gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23).
Perspective;
it’s the difference between what our eyes perceive as human beings and what God
sees from His eternal viewpoint. All we see is the bad news; the wages of sin
is death. Yet from God’s view, there is a wonderful promise that wipes the bad
news clean off the slate; the gift of God is eternal life.
Likewise,
our seemingly great trials are, from God’s perspective, merely light and
momentary stepping stones towards an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
It’s all in how you look at it.
Takeaway: God’s perspective wipes the bad news clean off the slate.
For
further reading:
·
1 Samuel 16:7
·
Ecclesiastes 3:11
·
2 Corinthians 4:18
·
2 Corinthians 12:9
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