I own things. They have no say in what I do with them. Sometimes I care for every little need they have, other times, I defer my maintenance. My involvement with them is really more of an emotional response to the moment, because I don’t look at things and say to myself “If I do this or that, the thing will be better off in 5 years.” I don’t have that perspective.
Perspective is an interesting concept. When my nephew Samuel was very young, about five, I think, he drew a picture of a battle. His dad is the very best Chaplain in the US military and so Sam grew to love and respect the military early on. So in the drawing of the battle scene, Sam showed some very large people simply dominating the little midget-like warriors against whom they stood in full battle array. Looking at the giants literally destroying the dwarfs, my brother said to his son, “that seems like an unfair fight, giants killing midgets, doesn’t it?” To that Sam, with a perplexed look on his face said, “They’re not giants dad, they’re just closer.” That is perspective.
Someone once wrote “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You once were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
A “Chosen Race” of all the races that find themselves on the earth today, if you are a believer, then you and yours are part of the chosen one. The race of those chosen before the foundation of the earth, not black or white or protestant or catholic, but chosen. That is perspective. From my vantage point I am the midget. I have enemies that are huge giants, and they want to crush me. To me, I am in the middle of turmoil, I am pressed on every side so that friend is enemy and foe seems like friend. It is perspective.
What must the giant’s perspective be? I’ll tell you my thought is this: that God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, is that giant. We don’t need to guess at His perspective; we don’t need to care, because it is His perspective. His perspective cannot be mistaken because unlike any other creature filled with pride He has clearly stated where He stands, what He sees.
Have you ever been to a wedding? I was in one, I had to have my own to be in one. People don’t ask me to be in their weddings, but they invite me, so I have a real interesting perspective on weddings. No one anticipates the entrance of the Groom. He is ultimately important, and full of value. He is the real character that matters, but no one anticipates the groom. Everyone anticipates the bride. If you’re a guest, a male guest, you aren’t the groom, but you love the bride. As she walks in, a sense of envy rushes over you. You see her like her father intends for you to see her, as so glorious, so beautiful and so graceful.
But the groom has perspective. An unobstructed view up the aisle, there is always an aisle. He watches the closed doors of the sanctuary. they appear so grand, so big, bulging pressing forward, like they are holding back the sun. They seem to bend and bow under the stress of the moment. And for him they are. The music always starts with the dun, dun, dun-dun, and then with what appears to be an effortless movement, the doors swing open. Out comes a gleaming light which to the groom shines brighter than the sun which the doors held back, and in walks the most beautiful creature He has ever seen. Transformed from her prior state of gorgeous, to real BEAUTY. It doesn’t matter what was the former state. Now, right now, she is nothing short of the last gasp of air He can muster. She is the life that breathes within him. She is the heart that beats in His chest. She is the Bride, the prize, that soul for which he fought and would now die. And from His perspective His knees buckle. He is stronger than ever before. He is whole and to take her from Him is to violently remove the life in Him.
In Revelation 21:9 I read “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” This angel doesn’t say it as if to say, we can peek at her from afar, we can steal a glimpse and no one will know. No!, he is saying “Oh you have to see this glorious light, she was chosen by the butchered lamb.”
His perspective was that of one that was close up. He could really see her, smell her, and serve her. He saw her from the Lambs perspective.
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