“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV
Perspective is important. Sometimes we toss it off with a shrug and dismissive, “Well, that’s just my perspective.” But our perspective is how we see things, and there’s not much more important than that. Our decisions and how we live our lives are based on how we see things. When we realize that, we see that sometimes perspective can be even more important than reality.
Our perspective – the way we see, what we believe, how we interpret what is happening around us – can make or break us in any given situation. Every single day, our perspectives are in control. They shape how we think, how we engage with people, how we act in daily life. Perspective is so powerful. It creates opportunities to grow and step into new life, or it can hinder us, hold us back, and keep us stuck. We need help. And help is available.
Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us very frankly that God's ways and thoughts are way beyond us. He sees things from a higher perspective. You know how that works. From a higher altitude, you see so much further. You see things you will never see on the ground, things you will never see otherwise. Seeing them requires God’s new and higher perspective.
Getting a new perspective is not passive. We must be open and welcome the Spirit’s work on us and in us. The perspectives we choose and nurture shape us for better or worse into the people we become. We must be willing to critically examine our perspectives in the light of God’s vantage point. We must be open enough to examine our perspectives critically and be alert and aware that we may be seeing things from the wrong place. As God transforms us and our ability to see as He sees, we will participate with God in changing our perspectives to His.
“And in the end, what we dwell on is what we become. Where we camp is where we live and die.” – Louie Giglio
- Perspective is everything. Ask God to help you be willing to see where your perspective does not align with His, and be willing to change.