Sometimes life can just be, well - you know, it
can be laborious. With all the
challenges, issues and personal things we deal with, we are constantly inundated
with electronic images & stories reminding us that we live in difficult
days. From the economic challenges at
home to disputes in the abroad, life can be arduous. As a chaplain at the MBPD, I often meet with
families in great crisis and occasionally meet with the officers to help them
process through a traumatic event.
Accordingly, it is vital for our emotional, mental, physical and
spiritual well being to have a healthy perspective on life.
I often remind the family at the fellowship where
I pastor that this time on earth is oh but a minute speck of time in
relationship to eternity. We often
encourage one another to have an eternal perspective, an everlasting view of
life. K.P. Yohannan, the founder of
Gospel for Asia, prays every day that eternity would be imprinted on the inside
of his eye lids.
My favorite Rabbi, the One I refer to often in
these short articles, told his follower's one day,
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on
earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do
not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also."
I like to call
this perspective, a healthy directive to set the affections of my heart toward
those things that really matter. You
see, if we take our focus off of the problems around us, our own hurts, hang
ups and bad habits, and place the affections of our heart on to things that
really matter, our perspective radically changes.
We
just completed a wonderful series at Rock Harbor that dealt with
perspective. I preached for six weeks on
purpose and meaning, a very practical look at why we exist. This short sermon series encouraged each
attendee to take a healthy look at their own life and ask that significant question,
"Why am I here?" We came to
the conclusion that we were put on this earth to worship God with everything we
are. And, in so doing, not only is God
honored, we are completely satisfied in that journey. John Piper, an author and minister from
Minnesota, put it this way, "God is most glorified when we are most
satisfied in him."
Further,
I've learned in my journey that to the extent I set the affections of my heart
toward the eternal, all the while cultivating a relationship with my Maker, my
emotions, my mental, my physical and my spiritual man is all the more content. In fact I try to be intentional in keeping
perspective. Namely, I do my best to eat
healthy, engage in consistent exercise, take time out for me to chill and I
actively stimulate my mind by reading.
When I'm faithful in these areas, life takes on a different slant and my
perspective then is focused on those things above.
In a
day that bleeds with challenges and concerns, I encourage you to shift your
perspective onto the eternal. Also, ask
yourself these questions, "Why am I here?
What is my purpose?" In so
doing, I'm confident your life and perspective will be altered for the good and
for the eternal.
Have
a great day and as always, thanks for reading...
