“Perspective”

“Perspective”
Kennard Friends Church
March 25, 2012

I am going to take this plain piece of paper and with a marker put a dot on it. Now tell me what you see. [Folks will automatically see the dot. Say they are correct. Then ask again… What do you see? After some initial confusion they may respond to what the dot might look like, or say they see the paper with a dot on it. Continue to say they are correct, but continue asking the same question “What do you see?”. The point is to get them to see EVERYTHING! The big picture! All that is within their peripheral vision. Ultimately to see with a broad perspective.]
Just like with the dot on the piece of paper, when we have trials in life it is easy to focus only on the trial. The message today is to help give some practical advice as to what the Bible says about keeping life in perspective.

Last week, Janet gave a testimony about someone that had been injured. As part of her comment she said “it could have been worse”. That phrase is one of the most common statements that helps to put events of life in perspective.

What are some life events? There are many, but some examples are sickness, disease, disability, poverty, wealth, job loss, even death.
Let me share a story that a college freshman wrote to her parents:

Dear Mom and Dad,
It’s been 3 months since I left for college. I’ve been remiss in writing and I’m very sorry for my thoughtlessness in not having written before. I will bring you up to date now, but before you read on please sit down.
Well then, I am getting along pretty well now. The skull fracture and concussion I got when I jumped out of the window of my dormitory when it caught fire shortly after my arrival are pretty much healed now. I only spent two weeks in the hospital and now I can see almost normally and I get headaches only once a day.
Fortunately the fire in the dormitory and my jump was witnessed by an attendant at the gas station near campus. He was the one to call the Fire Department. He visited me in the hospital. Since I had nowhere to live while the dorm was being repaired, he invited me to stay with him. It’s a pretty nice basement apartment. He’s a really neat guy and I have fallen in love with him. We plan to get married. We haven’t set a date, but it will be before my pregnancy starts to show.
Now that I have brought you up to date, I want to tell you there was no dormitory fire; no concussion or skull fracture; no hospital stay; no boyfriend; no pregnancy. However I AM getting a D in algebra and an F in Chemistry and I wanted you to see those grades in their proper perspective.
Your loving daughter.

What does the Bible say about putting life into perspective? Well there is more than we can cover in one message. So for today, let me give us just one! The following verse helps to remind us to keep a proper perspective so we won’t “worry”.


Matthew 6
25 “…I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. … 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?
28 “…why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. …
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God[d] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

With this Biblical perspective, we don’t have to worry about what we’re going to eat because just as God takes care of the bird, our heavenly father will definitely take care of us. God cares for the birds and we are much more valuable than any birds or animal – so God will definitely provide for his children. We don’t have to worry because God promises to take care of our needs.

With this Biblical perspective, we don’t have to worry about what we are going to wear. So don’t worry whether it’s Goodwill, Value City, Nautical, Tommy Hilfiger, but be thankful that God is a God who cares and provides for all your needs. God takes care of his little children. We don’t have to worry because God provides for us.
Another thing that worry does is put us in the same category as those who don’t know God because in verse 32 it reads that the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them. The pagan or the person who doesn’t know God lives in a way in which he relies on himself. When we start fretting and worrying about what are we going to eat, what we are going to wear, how are we going to make it, I need this, I need that, we sound like the person who relies on himself instead of God.

Worry is, and always will be, a fatal disease of the heart – for its beginning signals the end of faith. Worry intrudes on God’s compassionate ability to provide. When we allow our problems to overshadow God’s promises, we unknowingly doom ourselves to a defeat that was never part of God’s eternal plans.

If you know Jesus Christ today you are to look and live differently than one who doesn’t know God. Christians and non-Christians get the same challenges, trials and illnesses because I believe that God wants to show the world that a Christian lives and responds differently to the worries and challenges of this life. Christians have a different perspective. The believer responds by resting and relying on God to provide no matter the circumstances.

“Worry stops where faith starts. Faith starts where worry stops.”

Let’s pray.