A word that has stuck with me this entire year has been “perspective.” There is so much depth to this word. Our perspective shapes how we interact with people, how we cope with situations, and ultimately how we relate to God.
Do we look at things in a negative or positive light?
Do we focus on the bad or good in a situation?
Do we imagine that God is out to get us or that He is a good Father?
It’s all a matter of perspective.
Paul embraced a perspective that was heaven-centered. His words in Philippians 4:12-13 are the secret to having a positive perspective: “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (emphasis mine, NLT). The secret of Paul’s contentment was that he had learned to rely on Christ for everything.
Paul found his joy in a relationship with Christ, and he recognized that everything was His.
Right before these verses, Paul penned these wise words: “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:4-9, NLT).
There is so much to consider in this passage. First, we find our joy in the Lord and the fact that He promises to return to this earth and take us to heaven soon. Secondly, Paul admonishes us to not worry, but instead take all of our burdens to God through prayer. He then reminds us that in addition to telling God what we need, we are to thank Him for all He has done for us already.
We are to enter our prayer sessions with praise and thanksgiving, because when we do so it helps us to focus on God’s goodness and not our problems. This shift in perspective is what gives us peace—a peace that “exceeds anything we can understand.”
Finally, Paul provides us with the solution for keeping our perspective fixed on Christ. He reminds us to think about what is “true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Phil. 4:8, NLT). The simple act of thinking about true and lovely things will alter your day. It’s hard to stay in a bad mood when you recount the ways God has blessed your life!
I heard the following statement while attending a breakout session on positive perspective at a youth leadership conference. It was penned by an unknown author and goes like this: Was it a bad day, or was it a bad five minutes that you milked all day?
Let that sink in! How many times do we let one bad moment ruin the rest of our day because our focus remains on the negative instead of shifting to the positive?
In order to foster a positive perspective in our home and an attitude of thanksgiving for all the blessings God gives us, each week as we welcome in the Sabbath we take turns having each family member share his/her blessings from the week. Some blessings are big, such as a breakthrough with a student who decides to follow Christ, while others are small, such as doing well on a math test. But in each instance, we acknowledge God’s hand on our lives and our daily activities, and we look for the ways He shows up in the week. We often get sidetracked and begin sharing stories from our week, but that in itself is part of the blessing because we are spending time together as a family recounting the events of the week and thanking our heavenly Father for His love.
So, what’s your perspective?
Are you looking for God’s blessings throughout your day or week? I challenge you to take the time to count your blessings. As you keep your focus on heavenly things, you’ll be amazed at how well you cope with the challenging moments, because over time your mind will be retrained to find God’s blessings in every situation. Perspective. It’s a powerful idea!
