God’s Point of View

Did you ever give a thought to seeing “things” from God’s point of view? I never did until I read Colossians 1:9, “see things from God’s point of view…” it seemed like an impossible thing to me. How could I , with my finite little mind, see my life and others from His point of view? We are so use to looking at everything the way we always have, and don’t give it a thought after we come to Christ. But…I began to see that was not what God had in mind…He wanted us to learn from His Word, apply what we were learning and allow it to penetrate our minds and hearts. Scripture says “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks…” the mouth speaks what we are storing up internally. I found many times that what I was learning from the Lord was contrary to my natural way of thinking and especially different from many things I had been taught I had to pray hard and long to get input from Him. My mind/heart  did not want to give up it’s own way and I would tell myself, “yea but.” However, God always prevailed, and as I read and compared Scripture to Scripture, I slowly realized just how messed up our human reasoning was/is and how abundantly clear God’s Word was if we would persevere.

Everything we say and do begins in the mind. As a side issue, anything we put in our bodies, such as booze, drugs,etc., will cloud it and keep us from thinking God’s thoughts. In the same way, being unwilling to obey something God is telling us to do will hamper growth…when we won’t…we stay where we are until we obey. Just a principle I learned over my years of reading. God wants His best for us but it comes at a price…yielding. And we do not do that easily. You might say the mind is the watchtower of your life, what you put into it shows in your life, your speech, your mannerisms, certainly your character. Here is something to think about…what did Christ mean when He said if we would follow Him, we must “take up your cross” and follow Him? That really perplexed me for along time. Finally, years ago, I attended a seminar for Christian workers at Sandy Cove with my son Bill and his wife. The speaker was John MacArthur, our favorite writer. During his teaching he said this, “ take up your cross…what does that mean? Well, it means to give up your right to yourself, your life, your plans and desires and give your life to Him to use as He sees fit…willingly.” That last part is the key to “our cross.” He wants us to serve willingly, with our whole heart, soul, mind, strength. He did not want to take up His cross and be separated from the Father for the first and only time in His life anymore than we want to give our total selves up to Him for whatever He has in mind. And frankly, many times we do not know initially what it is He has for us to do in service to Him. I know I didn’t! One of the areas of our lives we have the most trouble conquering is our right to ourselves, personal rights it is referred to in counseling courses. When we come to Christ, we give up our rights, especially our right to our own lives…no more “old nature” ideas and actions, but a putting on of the “new nature” made in the likeness of Christ. Really, it’s a no-brainer…

All in all, seeing things from God’s point of view is not difficult. It is mostly a matter of wanting His best and being willing to let Him have His way in your life.