16 Apr Do You Have an Eternal Perspective?
Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t bless your life more than He does? Have you ever wondered why you pray for bad things to not happen but they happen anyway, and yet you get good things you didn’t even pray for? Has life ever been confusing for you, with things sometimes seeming like they just don’t make sense?
If so it may be because you do not have an eternal perspective.
What is an eternal perspective?
An eternal perspective can be understood as assessing temporal things in light of eternal truth.
There are two worlds; the seen, physical, temporal world and the unseen, spiritual, eternal world. These two worlds are in conflict:
- The seen world says, “Truth is what I say it is, emotions are a reliable basis for making decisions, and happiness is my highest good.”
- The unseen world says, “Truth is what God says it is, emotions are not a reliable basis for making decisions, and holiness is the highest good.” (Happiness can come from a pursuit of holiness, but holiness will never come from a pursuit of happiness.)
These two sets of beliefs cannot both be true. Therefore, we must choose between them.
- The “truth” of the seen, physical, temporal world must be rejected.
- The truth of the unseen, spiritual, eternal world must be accepted.
Central Passages for Choosing an Eternal Perspective
There are 2 central passages in Scripture for an eternal perspective.
The first central passage is 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.
Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
When we work this passage through, we see that if we are not to lose heart in life, we must focus on the things which are unseen and eternal. If we focus on the things which are seen and temporal, we will lose heart.
The second central passage is Colossians 3:1-4.
If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
This passage is a straightforward appeal for us, while we are living life here on earth, to keep our mind focused on “the things above.”
How then do we embrace an eternal perspective?
The story is told of a time, early in the U.S. space program, when NASA scientists, in an effort to test the outer limits of human physical capacities, fitted the astronauts with complex goggles with multiple lenses that turned their vision upside down. *
Suddenly, up was down and right was left. Everything was backward, and it made even the simplest tasks, such as walking across the room, or eating, or getting dressed, almost impossible.
What their eyes told them was not merely wrong, but absolutely opposite. In order to function even at a minimal level, they had to stop trusting their eyes, concentrate on muscle memory of past actions when the world was right side up, and act on what their muscle memory told them rather than what their eyes were telling them.
What a powerful parable that is of an eternal perspective! In our everyday life, it is as though Christians have been fitted with spiritual goggles that turn the world upside down.
The world says there is no God, everything can be accounted for by scientific observation, truth is what I say it is, emotions are a reliable decision-making tool, and happiness is my highest goal. That is what appears to be right side up.
Christians must look at that message, reject it as being absolutely backward, concentrate on Scriptural memory, and act on what Scripture tells them rather than what their eyes are telling them.
We must embrace an eternal perspective: assessing temporal things in light of eternal truth.
What happens if we do not embrace an eternal perspective?
Unless a Christian develops a strong eternal perspective, he/she will be continually confused, discouraged, frustrated, and even defeated. God’s refusal to bless their lives becomes utterly incomprehensible and eventually indefensible.
The most common reaction is to either just quit trying to live the Christian life… or to reduce expectations and go through the motions of a Christian life with the assumption that “ho-hum” is the best it gets… concluding that there is either something wrong with them, or with God, or with the system.
To avoid that self-destructive conclusion, we adopt an eternal perspective. We re-interpret everything we see in light of eternal truth, we trust our Scripture memory of right and wrong, good and bad, true and false and act on that rather than what our eyes see.
2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “We walk by faith and not by sight.”
So, by faith, we reject a temporal perspective and embrace an eternal perspective.
Conclusion As we accept the truth of Scripture at face value, as we agree to the wisdom of the need for an eternal perspective, and as we embrace, by faith, an eternal perspective, we align ourselves with truth and open ourselves to our full God-given potential.
We can then walk closer with God and live better in life.
Update: here we look at the importance of maintaining an eternal perspective.
*I could not verify the accuracy of this particular story, but I did verify that similar experiments were done with other non-astronauts with the same results.
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