Perspective

It’s beginning to look a lot like _____!

What’s your answer?

As I sit here at my desk, in my war/peace study space, the snow is accumulating across the yard and cornfield that is my normal and naturalistic view of my small part of the world. To the blank in the opening line it would be easy to say, “November,” or we could say, “winter,” or even some could say, “Christmas,” (is it too early to even utter that sacred word…?).

If one was to look a bit deeper, you could think of the pure white covering of the Midwestern earth from the perspective of a New Beginning and think, “It’s beginning to look a lot like change.” A change of season, the change of elected officials (or not, depending on how much corruption and cheating happened to your ballot), the change of focus as the year seemingly trudges towards its eventual ending, and hopefully the change of awareness in your spirit-man eluding that SOMETHING is happening… adjusting… maybe even transforming.

The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony.
John 3:31-32 BSB

Perspective…

In one way, you could say that perspective is the entire thrust and purpose of all of scripture, and, even to a greater extent, the advent of Jesus the Christ, our precious Savior. It is nearly on every page, every divine encounter, every heavenly word, and even the repetitive rebuke of our Biblical ministers to properly perceive what we are looking at which seems strange to the carnal mind. Yet, this IS The Message. It is required of God’s children to see what He sees, otherwise we are blind, in darkness, and incapable of successfully navigating this complex life.

This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed…”
Matthew 13:13-15a ESV

What is your perspective? No really, I am humbly asking you to really, purposefully, deeply consider what it is that you are seeing as you scan the landscape naturally, soulishly, and spiritually. If you dare to answer this question in sincerity and genuineness, it could be the beginning of something radical.

In John chapter three quoted above, this is John the Baptist addressing his disciples about Jesus, the Messiah. John was not born again (no one could be until after the Resurrection) yet still had the ability and desire to see the world around him in a much clearer reality. In training his students in this vital practice, John gives us a clue about how to steer our hearts through the muddled and scary appearance of our broken and deceived culture reminiscent of his generation. The direction of mankind back then was equivalently contrary to God’s loving desires as we see out our foggy windows today. In the midst of zealous religious oppression, blatant Roman slavery, four centuries of the “dark” years where there has been no prophets or scriptures given from heaven, cultural debauchery so rampant that John has to rebuke the king (Herod) multiple times for his open sexual deviancy in direct rebellion to the Creator’s intent… there is a subtle yet humankind-altering truth expressed. He says that Jesus, “testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony.”

Note that Jesus was THE living witness to what was a spiritual reality yet imperceptible, invisible, and unseen to nearly everyone else on earth. Consider this statement in the application of what we are, “seeing,” right now. The big news of our day is not the blanket of snow, the faux election or political announcements, the wars and rumors of war, the collapsing economy or stifling inflation, the wicked mental and sexual abuse lurking for our children by societal groomers and demonic influencers in plain sight, or even the church mass-exodus being perpetuated by, “too busy,” narcissistic, self-righteousness, and anti-Christ philosophies. Nope… the big news is the Good News. Is, was, and always will be.

Outside my window, the grass is still there, it is just covered in fresh snow changing my perspective of my yard. Inside the soul of humanity, the same divine needs are still there, and are still the same as they have always been in the perspective, “from above.” One of the reasons the Word of God and intimacy with the Spirit of God is of such infinite magnitude is because without the true perspective of God, everything is just a covered-up lie. The non-exhaustive list of present day woes listed in the previous paragraph are exploding landmines in the terrain of a battle-front that is being waged to take the territory of our hearts through capturing our perception, perspective, and attention. These forces are pushing us to, “not accept HIS testimony”…

“Don’t give me that bible, spirit stuff! I live in the real world with real problems!”

The foolish ones who had their hope in…

* an election or political personality
* a career or financial status
* an ungodly relationship(s)
* pharmaceuticals or medical “science”
* self-centered, self-controlled lifestyles of self-help
* entertainment and/or other addictions to numb the incessant pains of life
* just ignoring it all expecting stuff and things to just magically change or go away

… are being jolted from their blind slumber. Needfully so! An Awakening requires a waking up…

“So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

‘For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.
And my righteous ones will live by faith.
But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.’

But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.”
Hebrews 10:35-39 NLT

Dearest Beloved Family…
Do you see what I see?

In loving anticipation to see you again soon,
Steve