According to Your Perspective

Vic dropped my younger granddaughter off at school yesterday.
Elora was reluctant to leave the car until her friend arrived so they sat in the car awhile and waited.
There was a group of children standing nearby and Vic asked if Elora knew them . “Oh, yes,” she said, “a couple of them are in my class.”
“Which ones? The boys?” asked Vic. “That boy looks really small .”
“Maybe from your perspective!” was Elora’s retort.

I knew what she meant. I laughed when Vic told me the story but it reminded me of when I was just six years old.
It was my first day of school.
I am so old that when I was young there was no preschool nor kindergarten. I started school with grade one.
My mother walked me the distance of just over a country mile to the one room schoolhouse that held grades one and two.
I was very excited and looking forward to learning to read.
But all my excitement turned to terror when the little schoolhouse came into view.
I saw two very big, tall boys hanging over the small fence beside the road.
I told my mother I had changed my mind…I didn’t want to go to school with those big boys. She laughed and said, “What big boys?? Those are little boys, they are only in grade two!”
Knowing what grade they were in really didn’t calm my fears, from my perspective they were huge and threatening !!

I thought about “from my perspective” and wondered how often we judge falsely because we judge ‘from our perspective’, without even realizing it.

There is an old saying attributed to the Native American (Indian) "Before I judge a man, let me first walk a mile in his moccasins."
“Walking in his moccasins” allows us to judge from ‘his perspective’ and not our own biased view.

Important as it is to open our hearts and listen to one another to understand their perspective….how much more important is it to not judge God from our perspective.

Many people judge God by what their earthly father modeled for them . If their father was harsh or cruel , then from their perspective God is disinterested in their life until He sees opportunity to bring difficulty or tragedy into their lives.
If their father was a benevolent passive parent , then from their perspective God is a God who passively watches them live their lives, handing out blessings.
Or some people’s perspective of God is unconsciously formed by bits and pieces of information they have gathered over the years, that may or may not be true . So then God becomes a god they have shaped with their own hands.

There is only one true perspective to have !! To see God for who He says He is.
He has revealed Himself in His creation and most importantly through His Word.
How much time have you spent “walking” in the Word making sure that the perspective you have concerning God and His ways is a true one?

“…that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He..before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me. I, even I am the Lord and beside Me there is no savior…” (Is. 43:10,11)

“Oh,how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day….I have more understanding than all my teachers…. How sweet are Your words to my taste , sweeter than honey to my mouth…through Your precepts I got understanding ”
(Psalm 119:97,99,100,104)