A Change in Point of View or Perspective Part 1

 

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. II Corinthians 5:16-17 English Standard Version

            One of the things that I love about living at high altitude near Cloudcroft is the clouds. We live at about 8,800 feet. The big puffy clouds: Nimbostratus, Cumulus, and Cumulonimbus, form between six and eight thousand feet, with Cumulonimbus often soaring well over ten thousand feet. Consequently, we live very close to clouds, and I enjoy watching them sail past sometimes close enough to reach out and touch. Of course, proximity does come with its own challenges. Recently during the night, a particularly violent thunder and lightning storm passed through. The lightning flashed all around us while the thunderclaps reverberated through our little valley. Despite the occasional window shaking tempests, I love watching the clouds up close and personal. I see their texture, sense their moods, observe their birth, and death. I see them dissipate and watch them dispense their very essence in the forms of rain, hail, and snow…sometimes all in the same hour. Their presence adds much to my existence. Moving to the mountains radically altered my perspective. Almost as much as my relationship with the Lord altered my worldview.

            Proximity, relationship, with the creator changes how I see and understand things. Paul wrote about this. The ancient prophet Isaiah knew this. John, the Beloved, saw this in his awesome vision we call Revelation. I particularly love how Isaiah renders this fundamental spiritual truth.

¹⁸ “Remember not the former things,

    nor consider the things of old.

¹⁹ Behold, I am doing a new thing;

    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:18-19a

            God yearns for us to perceive things the way that He does. He, our creator, has a radically different perspective and He wants us to imbibe in it. As creator, He fully understands how things should work. When we join in relationship with Him, we should share in His perspective. Our new outlook changes our understanding of how this world functions and how we interact with it. Jesus spoke of this during his nighttime meeting with Nicodemus.

³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

            This change is so radical that Jesus refers to it as being born again. Paul, speaking much later, reminds us that we are a “new creation.” This implies an entirely new way of looking at the world. We no longer see everything through our own needs wants and desires, we now see things through the lens of God. We start understanding and interacting with the world differently. As Christians, as believers, we share in this divine vision of how our world ought to function. We share their joy when we see things unfold according to God’s plan. In a like manner, we grieve when things do not work as planned.

⁴¹ And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, ⁴² saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Luke 19:41-42

            God’s desire for Christians, for all of humanity, is that we live in together in the fashion that He planned from the beginning. It grieves Him when He sees us struggling because we do not see things from His point of view and strike out on our own. Sometimes we focus on the idea of Him as an avenger, and there are scriptures that certainly paint that picture. But, in the Luke passage we see a God who weeps because of our failure and intransigence. He mourns because we embrace chaos and pain instead of peace and joy. That is why being born again is such a foundational concept for believers.

            When we’re born again, we start seeing things from His point of view. We start understanding how things should work instead of how they do. We start learning what holiness is and why it is important. We start seeing our relationships with other people in a vastly different light. They are no longer here to serve our pleasures and needs, rather they are created in the image of our Father and are loved and cherished by Him. That changes things. We begin to understand that the world and everything that is in it belongs to Him and we are simply caretakers of His creation. Nothing of our previous worldview survives this process of new birth. We are indeed a new creation.

            Over the next few weeks together, we will explore some of the major ways in which our rebirth changes our point of view. We will examine how we view God, sin, holiness, creation (things), family (the church), and humanity. So, join me in this exploration of our increasingly divine point of view.

Thought Questions:

1. What is point of view or perspective, and why is it important?

2. How did your point of view or perspective change when you became a Christian?

3. What do you view differently than your non-Christian friends, neighbors, and coworkers?

4. What do you think is God's point of view or perspective?

5. How is his point of view or perspective different than ours?