This week’s devotions are based on Week 2 of the Fresh Start Series: I Have a New Perspective (WATCH HERE)
This past fall I put on the black and white stripes of the basketball official and stepped back onto the basketball court, not as a player, but as an official. To be honest it was a little nerve racking the first few games as the rust of 20+ years of not officiating had to be knocked off. Some have asked, “Why?” As you know officials in sporting events are not always the most popular part of the game…but they are necessary. The game needs the officials to objectively as possible apply the rules of the game that each team has agreed to abide by. You are called on to make split second decisions of whether the rules were violated or not. You have the whistle, so you have to make the call.
But here’s a profound revelation: Not everyone will agree with you!
Why?
They have a different perspective. They may see something you didn’t. Their response is to what they saw…what they understand the rules to be…and probably biased to what team they are rooting for.
Here’s another profound revelation: Not every official gets every call right. AND…not every fan gets every call right either.
Sometimes it is a matter of perspective. Two or three sets of eyes on the court will see things at times differently than the hundreds of eyes watching the game from the bleachers.
Perspective matters.
We live life through a perspective that has been molded by learning and life experience. Perhaps that perspective is accurate, but not always. As we are open to it, we can broaden our perspective when we are willing to see things from another point of view.
When we see Jesus, we see things we have never seen before. We may have our views changed, our understanding deepened and our life more blessed when we see more and more life from Jesus’ perspective.
Jesus doesn’t just physically open the eyes of the blind, but he spiritually opens our eyes to see things about him and what he came to do that impact our lives tremendously. This was really his desire is to open the eyes of his first disciples to see things that had eternal consequence. They saw these things not just for themselves, but to then share with the world.
Nathanael was one of these individuals. Jesus found Philip and called him to follow as a disciple. Philip wasted no time to find Nathanael and let him know that the one they were looking for based on the Old Testament prophecies was found in Jesus.
John 1:43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
Nathanael’s perspective was about to change. He, like Philip, had been waiting for the Messiah. They knew what Moses said. They knew the prophets’ writings. But now they would see Jesus for the first time. And when they saw Jesus, they began to see things they never saw before.
I pray that as we walk with Jesus we let go of all of our perspectives that do not align with his. We may not always agree with them or like them, but we will trust that we need them. For when we see life through the lens of Jesus, we see life and eternity as Jesus meant it to be.
Apply: What perspectives about Jesus might change if you personally had the opportunity to meet Jesus?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for sending your Son and calling us to follow you so that we see things we would never see on our own and find joy in walking in your steps.