As the old saying goes, “Never judge someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” Gaining perspective, seeing things as others see them, is an important life skill to master. Have you ever thought about the value of understanding God’s perspective – of seeing things as he does? Of course, we can never fully understand how God thinks, “for my thoughts are not your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8),” but the more we study his Word, the more we can develop eyes that see as God sees.
Here are four reasons you should try to develop the ability to see things as God sees them.
- You’ll be better able to answer the “why” questions of life. Paul said “the person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit (1 Cor. 1:14).” Unbelievers don’t have a spiritual perspective, but believers do.
- You’ll love God more. The better we understand God’s ways and his nature, the more we’ll love him. Paul prayed in Eph. 3:17-18 “that you may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”
- You’ll be better equipped to resist temptation. When we see the big picture as God does we realize how short-sighted it is to “enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. (Heb. 11:25).” Without that perspective we tend to follow our basic instincts. As the wise man said, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death (Prov. 14:12).”
- You’ll be better able to handle trials. When we see life as God does, we’ll have the assurance that “for those who love God all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28).” Jesus was able to endure the cross because he looked past the pain “to the joy set before him (Hebrews 12:2).” Paul viewed his hardships in a way that should motivate us: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Cor. 4:17-18).”