The Power of Perspective

I remember reading the story of a struggling company. Times had changed and the company had not kept pace. It was determined that they needed a “fresh perspective”. Unfortunately the changes only made things worse. The new “perspective” they adopted was not consistent with their core values and corporate identity. In other words, they tried to become something that they were not.

Our perspective should be a reflection of who we are and what we believe. So what is perspective? I define it as: how one sees, views, understands, organizes and responds to life; especially when under pressure.

When I say “views”, that means to assess and analyze; and it includes feelings. Because how we feel about something will affect how we respond to it.

Perspective starts with seeing

Prior to the fall, God gives Man 3 sets of instructions. The second set is found in Gen. 1:26. In this verse God commands the Man “to see”. The word used for “see” means: to see with purpose; to gaze with the intent to understand.

So then:

• We are commanded to see
• There is something to see
• We are expected to see it
• We are held accountable to understand what we are seeing
• There is a cost to not seeing

All of these have a profound impact on our perspective. Very early God commands us to see and establishes the paradigm for Man’s perspective. He doesn’t want us going through life in a state of unawareness.

All of these have a profound impact on our perspective. Very early God commands us to see and establishes the paradigm for Man’s perspective. He doesn’t want us going through life in a state of unawareness.

Moving through life is like navigating through the seas. Methods that have been used by sailors include the stars, astrolabes, maps and compasses. Whatever the device or method, there was one constant; you had to have a fixed reference point. Something was needed that does not change or move.

The first thing we are commanded to see is God Himself. He becomes the focal point for how we are to approach and do life. God becomes the prism from which our perspective is to emerge. Scripture tells us that God is eternal and does not change. He is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

Secondly, our perspective must be rooted in reality. Notice there is something there to be seen and we are expected to see it. We must see it truly for what it is. All too often I have approached situations thinking it was something that it was not. It was only after I was involved that I realized it was something that I should have avoided. (Eph. 5:15; Pro. 15:21)

Thirdly, we must own our perspective. In other words, we don’t get to play the victim card. We all make mistakes and misread situations. That is part of the human condition; we are finite in our understanding. And yes, we will be taken advantage of on occasion. The principle is that we don’t surrender the “power of choice”. Free will coupled with the proper perspective empowers us to be able to pursue our destiny. The power to say no and to say yes enables us to move past failure, hurts and disappointments. That means we must take responsibility for our part. Romans 14:12 reminds us that we will all give an account.

It All depends on perspective