Tuesday, August 30, 2016

It's About Perspective




Recently, the Celebration crew fulfilled their commitment to the Arkansas Highway Department's Adopt-A-Highway program. For those who may not be familiar with the program, CBC picks up trash for a one mile stretch of I-30 near the Haskell exit four times a year.

While picking up trash, we noticed a car pulled to the road shoulder with an apparent flat tire. There were three young men working to change the tire. They didn't need help, so we continued with our trash task.

At one point, I turned to Mr. Dale, a retire public school teacher, and commented "I am glad we are not changing a flat tire on the side of this busy interstate highway." To which he replied, "One of them is probably thinking 'I am glad I am not those guys picking up trash on the side of the road doing their mandatory community service!'"

Mr. Dale, always the teacher, reminded me yet again the importance of perspective. That caused me to begin thinking about the perspective of a Christ-follower.

1) A Christian's perspective on anything must be filtered through the Bible. The "assumptions we think and live by should be biblical ones, and we should build on these Biblical assumptions when approaching theology, politics, economic theory, medical science, emerging technologies, the arts, human behavior, literature, criminal justice, international relationships, or anything else," - Charles Colson. Everyone has a filter through which they view life and everything associated with it. A Christian's filter is the Word of God.

2) The Christian's perspective must include the universal need for Jesus in all people. According to the Bible (see bullet point #1), all people are broken by sin and can not repair themselves. All people need Jesus to resolve their sin crisis.

3) The Christian's perspective must include hope. Biblical hope is not some "think so," "wish so" , positive thinking mindset. To degrade biblical hope to those terms is tragic. Biblical hope is a confident assurance that God will do what He said he would do concerning all things, especially eternity.

The question remains, "So what?" By filtering everything through the Word of God, 2) the understanding of man's universal need for Jesus, and 3) the believer's sure hope in Jesus, the Christ-follower should be compelled to live life with focus, purpose, and assurance. We learn the what, why, and how of life. We have the perspective necessary to see REAL life-change in those around us.

No comments:

Post a Comment