A Matter of Perspective

A Matter of Perspective

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

— Colossians 3:1-3 NLT

2006 marked the 117th consecutive year of the Oxford versus Cambridge golf match. The two teams met in Scotland to play a combined total of almost 720 holes of golf. After the first day, Oxford was down by a score of 4-1, a deficit that seemed near impossible to come back from. In the matches on day two, 7 out of 10 Oxford men would need to win their singles match in order to beat Cambridge.

At the end of day two, both teams exhausted, the competition came down to the last two matches. As the last putt sank, the Oxford team members rushed the green to congratulate their final player while the Cambridge team members made their way down to console their teammate. The final score was Cambridge 7½ to Oxford 7½. The weekend ended in a draw.
It was the same outcome for both teams, the same score. In the record books, it will show the match as a tie. But as the two teams walked away that day, you would have thought Oxford had won and Cambridge had lost. It was a matter of perspective. What Cambridge saw as a blown lead, Oxford saw as the greatest comeback in history.

The Christian’s home is with Christ. This gives a different perspective on our lives here on earth. This letter to the Colossians reminds them to think about the things of heaven. This means to look at things from God’s perspective. This means to looks at the same world, the same materialism, the same pleasures, the same cruelty, the same beauty, but to see it with different eyes. By seeing with God’s eyes, we can have the power to break free from the obsession with self-fulfillment and pleasure, and live a life that helps to serve and love others in a deeper, more meaningful way.

This means living life with a perspective that seeks to forgive, not cling to bitterness; seeks to serve, not gain from selfish living; seeks to give, not to have; seeks to love, not to ostracize. For you have died to this life. With God’s perspective and God’s power in your life, you can conquer the present-day worldly struggles and live a life knowing this world has nothing for you, compared to what lies ahead.

GOING DEEPER:

1. Have you adopted the world’s perspective or God’s perspective when you consider the world?

2. In what ways do you need to change the way you are looking at things in your life so that you can see them as God sees them?

FURTHER READING:John 14:2-3; Philippians 4:7; Colossians 3:15

This devotional was written by Kelly McFadden