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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Perspective.
I grew up in the suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama. It is a medium-sized city in the center of the state. I had a family that loved me...and that included an extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, the whole bit. Summer vacations at the Florida panhandle of the Gulf Coast. Holiday weekends at the cabin on the river. An occasional trip to Atlanta to go to Six Flags Over Georgia or a major-league sporting event. Very few people moved in. Very few people moved out. When I got married, our first home was 10 minutes from my in-laws, and 30 minutes from my mom. My first job was ministering to suburban teenagers in Birmingham, Alabama.
It was a lot of the same-old, same-old. For 28 years, that was my perspective.
Then I moved to Dallas, Texas to go to seminary...where I met people from all over the world. Literally, there was a guy there who had to leave his village on a bicycle and ride 40 miles to the airport. I met Hebrew scholars. I met people who had never actually seen a microwave.
Then I came to serve a very missions-minded church. I've seen barrios in Juarez, Mexico (9 times, too). I've taken teenagers to Native American reservations to spend a week. I've seen abysmal poverty in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, as well as the scenic countryside of that nation. I've seen suburban teenagers in Alkmaar, Holland.
I've had the chance to travel since I left Alabama, too. I've visited New York City twice. I've done Disney World for a week with the fam. I've been to San Francisco. I've been to some part of the Rocky Mountains almost every summer. I've been to San Antonio.
I tell you that, not to brag, but to tell you how much my perspective has changed. For nearly three quarters of my life, I only had one perspective. Now it's much broader.
But the biggest thing that has happened in the last 10 years has been how much my spiritual life has changed. And it's happened in large part because of these verses. They're very special to me.
See, I learned that worship is offering myself...not singing. In the Old Testament, which Paul would've been familiar with, someone who worshipped brought an offering to the Temple and had it killed. Paul showed us that Christ wants us to do the exact opposite: Don't die, but rather LIVE for Him. Every single thing we do can be worship, provided it's done as an offering to the Lord.
I learned that the world really is trying to "conform" me...press me into their mold. I learned that transforming really is an inside-out happening.
But what I learned that really affected me comes from Lawrence Richards:
"Paul tells us how (to transform): by the 'renewing of our minds.' 'Mind' here is nous, not so much the organ of intellect as the organ of perception. What is to be transformed is the way we look at life: the values, the thoughts, the motives, the viewpoint from which we evaluate choices. Simply put, we ned to see everything from God's point of view."
And, that, frankly, is the essence of the spiritual life.
And, it's why I can see what the world might say are average, ordinary teenagers, and genuinely see young people that Christ died for, who He loves so much that the very hairs on their head are numbered, who are gifted and talented for the express purpose of helping the body of Christ mature...who are not part of the church of the future but they are the church of right now.
It's why I can care about homeless people in Juarez.
It's why I can enjoy church with my church family in Haiti.
It's how I view a vacation or some comp tickets to the ball game.
It's how I see my wife and kids.
It's how I drive my car.
It's how I study for teaching my senior guys.
I could go on and on.
You get the point.
It's seeing everything in the world from God's perspective.
And, I'll put some more meat on those bones tomorrow.
But, for today, how would you "rate" your ability to see everything from God's perspective? What practical steps can you take to begin to see the world as God sees the world?
Brent 4:04 AM
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