It’s All about Perspective

By Dawn Wilson –

A splendid cruise just shouldn’t be interrupted by rain. A downpour during our recent journey from Australia to New Caledonia not only forced us all indoors, it created the inspiration for ongoing ridicule in my life.

One evening, as we pulled away from shore, a tropical shower hit. I stood on the veranda outside our room, watching a sheet of water move across the sky.

I turned to my husband and asked, “Hey Bob, do you think it’s raining on the other side of the ship?”

Now I thought that was logical because of the “sheet” of rain I observed, but my husband, inside the room, burst into hysterical laughter.

“Well, I don’t know,” he said (snicker, snicker). “Let’s call and ask Tom” (loud guffaw)!

Tom and his wife Jan had a room on the other side of the ship. As Bob phoned to relay the story to them, I could hear them laughing … hard!

That night, as we ate aboard ship, they bombarded me with questions. “Hey Dawnie, do you think there’s water on the other side of the ship? Do you think there are fish in the water on your side?” Etc., ad nauseam.

They could laugh all they wanted, but I knew what I saw! It was all about perspective.

It’s the same with worldviews.

Christians have a different worldview from the world without Christ. We see a different scenario. For instance, from our perspective, there is purpose in this world because God created it. We’re not here by chance. In our view, there is hope, because Jesus came to save and forgive us and He is coming again to take us to a prepared home. The alternative? As one atheist said, “When people die, they are dead. That’s it. Eternity would be boring.”

I once studied the lives of C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud. These two men were polar opposites. Lewis, a Christian apologist, turned from atheism to become a powerhouse for Christ. Freud, who embraced scientific materialism, remained a steadfast atheist. Although both men shaped the thinking and morality of their (and future) generations, they simply viewed life from different perspectives.

Unfortunately, all perspectives do not lead to eternal life. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 16:25 ESV).

There are many religions, many philosophies and many points of view—but the Bible says there is only one way to heaven. Jesus said, “… no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me” (John 14:6 AMP). He is our life.

Our culture today tries to shake us from this truth. They scoff at our claim: there is only one way to God and salvation (Acts 4:11-12). They may laugh at us, and may someday even persecute us or worse. But once we know the Savior, we know what we’ve seen. It’s all about perspective!

Thank God for ‘Re-do’s

By Dawn Wilson –

A story about a sneaky painter reminds me of the blessings of a second chance. As the story goes, the painter thinned down his paint for years while charging his clients full price. One day a local pastor hired the man to paint his church.

“All right!” the painter thought. “I can make some big bucks – it’s going to take a lot of paint!” True to his character, the schemer thinned down the paint and started painting.

Suddenly, a storm swept through the town and a bolt of lightning hit the painter, knocking him from the ladder. As storm clouds swirled and lightning struck near him again and again, the painter feared for his life. “Help me, God,” he yelled. “I know I’ve done wrong. What can I do to get a second chance?”

And a voice boomed from heaven: “Re-paint, re-paint … and thin no more!”

Ah yes, the blessing of repentance. When we confess our sins, God is merciful, faithful to forgive us (1 John 1:9). “How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!” (Psalm 32:1 HCSB).

By God’s grace our sins were cast behind His back and He refuses to remember them anymore (Isaiah 43:25; Hebrews 8:12). In the words of an old hymn, “My sins were like a heavy stone God cast and buried in the sea. As east so far from west is thrown, My sins have been removed from me!”

I’ve always appreciated the freshness of a new day. As Christian author and pastor Todd Stocker wrote in Refined: Turning Pain into Purpose, “A sunrise is God’s way of saying, ‘Let’s start again.’”

In a much broader way, we experience this freshness in the sunrise of a new year. Some will make a list of New Year’s resolutions. Others, knowing the dismal results of resolutions in years gone by, will skip the list and simply seek God for a new vision or direction. Perhaps a motivating scripture will keep many on track. Two friends taught me the value of asking the Lord for a “word” to embrace. Last year my word was God-confidence. The word inspired me to create a new ministry, trusting God for strength and wisdom.

This side of heaven, our Maker understands our weaknesses and He is the God of the second chance. And the third. And many more.

Repentance. Confession. Forgiveness. A fresh start. Those fresh beginnings allow for daily choices to draw closer to God, and to obey Him fully and bring Him glory as we become more like Jesus. It’s all possible because of God’s grace.

Have you thanked God for His grace and the countless ‘re-do’s in your own life?

Cookin’ Up a Good Life

By Dawn Wilson –

Ask my family. I’m not a good cook. I’m a good baker. I’m a cookie pro. But the other stuff—nope.

Mud pies are more delectable than my beef casserole. My husband’s dinner beverage of choice is Alka-Seltzer. My sons refer to our smoke detector as “Mom’s oven timer.”

I’ve managed better in recent years. Holiday dinners now consist of Costco ready-mades.

Although my family remembers my cooking adventures with exclamations of “Yikes!” or “Oh, wow!” (and “wow” is not meant to be positive), they have other memories of home that more than make up for my recipe experiment “catastrophes.”

Looking back, I think my sons had a pretty good life, and our granddaughters are getting healthy servings of the good life, too.

By “the good life,” I don’t mean everything was peachy-keen. We weren’t “rolling in the dough,” and we had more than our share of problems; but there was something that held us together like that stuff that makes bread sticky.

No, it was someone … God.

God is the not-so-secret ingredient that helped us respond to each other in love. He showed us how to stay on mission as a family. We took Matthew 6:33 seriously: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (ESV).
The “all these things” included our food, shelter, and clothing—the basic necessities of life. Though others may not agree with our analysis, we felt rich because God was our Blessed Provider. We observed some other families with far more material possessions who struggled with their relationships, were never happy, and always in conflict or discontent. We knew we had it good.

As our sons matured, they realized how unique our family was compared to the many they saw in the world. I kept reminding them, “Knowing God makes a difference.” They saw other families suffer the consequences of making wrong choices—many of them falling apart in divorce or alienation. Then my boys compared others’ lifestyles to how we tackled stresses with the truth of God’s Word and practiced love and faithfulness. They understood the difference.

Along the way, God threw in some surprise adventures, like ministry opportunities as a family in Canada, and community holiday activities that filled our hearts as we honored the Lord.

Yes, in seeking God we enjoyed such rich blessing. The “all these things” meant so much more to us than possessions. We experienced the guidance of the Scriptures, a loving and supportive church family, encouraging friendships in Christ, and the joy to cooperate with God as He changed all of our hearts.

We know the “good life” doesn’t come from our good works, but from God’s good mercy and grace. It’s all about God’s good work in us (Philippians 1:6). His recipe for cookin’ up an amazing life can’t be beat.

Lesson from a Zombie

By Dawn Wilson –

I’m not a zombie fan, but a TV commercial by Sprint Unlimited about an “undead” zombie made me laugh. In the commercial, a creepy-looking zombie asks a Sprint representative whether their “unlimited for life guarantee” also applies to someone who is “technically” not alive: “Like, maybe you were … undead”?

The Sprint rep replies, “Sure, like a zombie.” The slightly offended zombie suggests she not put “labels” on people. But when his ear falls off, he has to confess, “… I’m a zombie.”
Busted!

We never try to pretend to be something other than we’re not, do we?

I’m reminded that the Pharisees strutted around, proud of their good works. They thought they were fooling people with their self-righteousness. But Jesus saw inside their hearts to where their lives were falling apart.

He called them “white-washed tombs” (Matthew 23:27-28) full of dead men’s bones. Hypocrites.

Before we get all judgmental with the Pharisees, we need to check our own hearts.
• Are we filled with pride?
• Do we spend more time looking “spiritual” while our inner life—intimacy with God—would make us blush if others knew?
• Do we want people to think we’re better than we are?
• Do we modify our actions to appear “holier than thou”?
• Do we quickly condemn others, but get defensive when others point out our own failings?
• Do we get upset when people don’t notice our spiritual accomplishments?

When the zombie’s ear fell off, the obvious exposure made me laugh.

But I don’t laugh when others discover my façades.

The cure for all of this, of course, is to know God and to get real with Him so we can be real with others. It’s recognizing we don’t need to impress anyone. We certainly don’t need to appease or impress the Lord. When we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive; and He can certainly handle our everyday mistakes.

This is a call for authenticity. Honesty. Knowing who we are and Whose we are, and living in light of that truth. In Christ, we are accepted and secure, and we have dignity.

Once we know who we are in Christ, we certainly don’t need to pretend (like that zombie in the commercial) that we’re something other than what God says we are: sinners rescued by God’s grace on an incredible journey of transformation to become like His Son. Our greatest goal now is to live for the praise of His glory (1 Peter 4:11), not our own.

Eye of the Beholder

By Dawn Wilson –

A dear old saint was sleeping, coming out of anesthesia after some tests in the hospital. His sweet wife sat close by his bed.

Suddenly, his eyes opened and he spoke to her in slightly slurred speech, “Oh, you are so beautiful, so lovely.”

His wife smiled, deeply flattered, and stroked his hand with love as he drifted back to sleep. Sometime later, he woke up and turned to look at his doting wife.

“Hi Cutie,” he said.

“Cutie?” she said. “What happened to ‘beautiful’ and ‘lovely’?”

“I guess the drugs must be wearing off,” he said.

“Oh, you,” she said, slapping his hand, and turning away with a grin.

Ever heard the maxim: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”?

In every culture, people tend to measure themselves against unfair standards of “perfection,” defining beauty in narrow terms. Our vision of ourselves is subjective and limited; and some people grow up never recognizing or appreciating their own God-given beauty.

Just as our experiences of God’s creations are varied—consider a fragrant rose vs. a perky daisy, or enjoying majestic mountains vs. a sunset at the beach—human beings are also varied and unique. To appreciate the way God created us is to appreciate the artistry and wisdom of the Creator Himself.

I once knew a woman who was partially blind and “ordinary-looking,” according to some, but I felt she glowed with an inner strength that I so desired as a young girl. I often sat next to her, trying to capture her winsomeness and joy or learn from her vast store of wisdom. I saw beauty in her that went far deeper than appearance.

Certainly, a person can be beautiful on the outside and not so beautiful inside. The TV character Fred G. Sanford once said, “Beauty is only skin deep but ugly is to the bone.” I think his words define the core ugliness that comes from sin—a heart that turns from God, marred character and immoral conduct.

Though we are all “wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14 NIV), no one is completely beautiful this side of heaven. We all sin and are slowly falling apart until we die. We are marred images until God transforms us into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).

All true, lasting beauty comes from God. “Beauty is fleeting,” the Bible says, “but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (Proverbs 31:30 NIV). No one escapes the signs of sin and aging, but true inner beauty thrives, including character, gifts, purpose, faith and all of the spiritual graces.

When the Father sees the redeemed, He sees His Son (Colossians 3:3-4; Romans 8:1; 1 Peter 1:3; Ephesians 2:13). And make no mistake, Jesus is beautiful. God declares us chosen, special, loved, free and so many other lovely blessings of being rooted in Christ (1 Peter 2:9, 1 John 3:1; Ephesians 1:3; John 8:36).

The faithful Christian’s desire will be to reflect Christ now and throughout eternity. “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2 ESV). Though declared righteous in Christ, someday we will be perfected in Him, just as our Creator intended.

Truly, “in the eye of the beholder”—as we gaze on Jesus—we will be changed.

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