PERSPECTIVE
Matthew 19:13-15
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.
But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.
Perspective is crucial equipment for human beings and has some provocative properties. Perspective has to do with our varying relationship to objects ranging from close to far away. Perspective empowers us to distinguish between the ones in the foreground and those in the distance. Human beings are normally equipped with two eyes for precisely this purpose. Having two eyes a little distance apart sends pictures from two different points making the resulting composite picture three-dimensional.
Sorry for the science lesson but I’ve often found great truths revealed as I study rudimentary facts. We must also know that perspective is the first thing that is lost when a human being surrenders to self-absorption or creedal dogma. And we are crippled if our cognitive instincts such as perspective, discernment, wisdom or common sense are lost or become atrophied. Try this experiment. Put a patch on one eye for even an hour. You will discover the dangers of having no perspective.
The first basic point I would like to make here is that to have perspective we must have more than one point of view. One person’s point of view never equals perspective and therefore is insufficient for judgment. By definition, it is incomplete data. The Law of God in respect to judgment is that it must not be given on the word of even one (eye-)witness.
Secondly, the added point of view must be actual, as opposed to assumed. Factual, not fabricated. It is not good enough to just guess what someone else is thinking and add that to your opinion and go with it. Nice people would call that presumption. Not-so-nice people would call that stupid and even destructive behavior.
Lastly, that added point of view should ideally belong to someone who has learned this lesson of perspective and habitually adds some other point of view from someone even more insightful than themselves. This is the prescription for a growing maturity and usefulness. There is only one absolutely guaranteed point of view on any subject. God’s. And Jesus said, “Father, I have done all You sent Me to do.” “I only say what I hear my Father say.” “I only do what I see Him do.” “If you really knew the Father, you would indeed have recognized Me.” So, His is the ideal point of view to always refer to. “Here’s what I think, but what does Jesus think?” That needs to be our habit. But since it so often is not… our actions are just as inappropriate as the disciples’ before their baptism into the Holy Spirit.
“…the disciples rebuked them.” (the parents and children) They what?! Jesus said, “Let the children come to Me!” There’s a pretty good chance that He spoke with the same kind of power in His voice then as when He said to the soldiers from the Temple, “I am He,” and they fell all over each other! If you think Jesus was always soft spoken and sympathetic toward presumptive stupidity, you need to read the gospels again and again until you get to know Him. The Holy Spirit has been given to us to make available to us the guaranteed perspective from Jesus’ point of view. No one has said it better than Paul in 1Corinthians 2:9-16.
[Before you go on, it would be good for you to pick up your Bible, turn to that and read it. I’ll wait…]
Surely we agree on our need to see everything through Jesus’ eyes. So why do we continue to put structure and policy into our lives and organizations, then continue to develop them and operate by them, without consulting Him? They appear needed and called for, but usually that’s because they afford us some illusion of convenience or dignity.
In regards to children, we either farm them out so they won’t interrupt; or we deify them by centering everything around what they want or need, thus avoiding the hard work of disciplining them. They shouldn’t be kept from coming to us and being with us, but their every feeling is not to be catered to when they are with us. They are to be blessed and taught and touched by us as we go about our routines of life in the home, community but especially in worship and Body life. Perhaps our hardest relational work is to disciple our children. No, I take that back… The hardest work is having to learn basic discipline after becoming an adult! So, the kindest most responsible thing to do for your children is to take the time, make the effort while their circuits are still being connected. Wait till after they’re six years old and you’ll smart for it.
Perspective, the dimensions of real life. You have perspective because you have Jesus and His absolutely trustworthy Point of View, the Holy Spirit, His mind and heart. Acknowledge your need for Him, ask Him, get His perspective.