Finding Perspective in Christ
By: Kristen L. McNulty
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A couple of months ago we had a devotional on this topic, but lately it's been on my heart so much, that I feel it's necessarily to take another look at. Why? Because Things are not as they seem.
Things are not as they seem. I’m sure that almost everyone listening has found out things aren’t as they seem the hard way. Maybe you believed that someone was who they said they were, only to get hurt in the end. Or you thought a situation was one way, only to get burned when it turned out to be the opposite.
Yet over and over in the Bible we find that it doesn’t have to be this way. In many of the prophecies about Jesus, it was said that the blind will see and the deaf will hear. Now back then many interpreted that in the physical. We’ll know who the Messiah is when He starts healing those who can’t hear or can’t see.
But when Jesus stepped into the picture, we’re given a deeper meaning. Suddenly blindness was pointed out to not just be a physical issue, but a spiritual one.
After healing the blind man and receiving criticism from the Pharisees, Jesus told them: “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty. But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.” (John 9)
This is coming from the same One who said: “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
Things are not as they seem and the only way we can see clearly is by allowing Christ to be our vision.
Now I know some of you may be thinking, well if God offers clear spiritual vision, how come I’m still having trouble seeing even though I’m a Christian? Well just an optometrist may hand you a pair of glasses to help you see clearly, he’s not going to follow you around everyday and force you to wear them. And why should he? You’d have to be crazy to walk around blinded when there’s another way.
It’s the same way with God. He offers us clear vision, but it’s all up to us whether or not we’re going to wear our spiritual eyeglasses on a daily basis. And why wouldn’t we? The benefits are huge, especially when times of trouble come our way.
Just before Christmas I was given some news in my life that isn’t so pleasant and while at first I was obviously taken back by it, I really noticed that with this challenge that my reaction was quite different.
As I was thinking and praying about this and thanking God for giving me a different perspective, He gave me a pretty cool picture of what was happening in my life and what can happen in all of our lives when we see life through His eyes.
Growing up did you ever have one of those bop bags? You know the inflatable toy in the shape of a clown or boxer or whatever that when you would hit it, it would go down, then come right back up? It didn’t matter how hard you hit it, the toy would always come back up.
Now these toys worked because they were filled with a sand pocket in the bottom that worked with gravity. In fact the only way it wouldn’t work is if you were to hit the thing so hard you would destroy it and it would deflate.
Now I don’t bring this up to say how bitter I was as a child when I wasn’t allowed to have one of these toys. I bring it up because it’s a perfect illustration of what happens when Christ is our vision.
When we see the world through His eyes, it doesn’t matter how hard we get hit by circumstances, we may go down for a second, but the natural response will be to be brought right back up.
Satan can throw things in our path, but when Christ is our vision, it doesn’t matter how hard he tries to take us down, he can’t.
And that’s exactly what has been happening in my life. I won’t get into details, just because of a lack of time, but over these past two years I’ve had one thing after another thrown my way. But because earlier on, I realized that things were not as they seemed and surrendered my sight to Christ, my life has literally become a bop bag.
With every difficulty, every problem, every obstacle, I may get thrown down for a second in the initial reaction, but with Christ as my vision I bounce back. Because I know things are not as they seem and what I view as an annoyance or inconvenience could really be the best thing that could have happened in my life.
And that’s the most incredible thing about being a bop bag in Christ. The longer you do it, the less time it takes to bounce back. Why? Because the longer we walk with Christ, the more clearer our vision becomes and the clearer our vision becomes, the more we see things as they really are. And the more we see things as they really are, the quicker we bounce back from the troubles we encounter because suddenly we see hope in the hopelessness. We see light in the darkness. We see Christ in the midst of every circumstance and we see that He is enough.
Hebrews 11:1 in the message says “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.”
Trust in God, our faith, is our handle on what we can’t see.
So we’re left with a choice. We can walk around blinded and stay on the ground like a deflated bop bag. Or we can allow Christ to be our vision and bounce back with Him.
I don’t know about you, but I want to be a bop bag.
This devotional was aired as a part of the Making A Difference Christian Radio Show.