The importance of a clear perspective

Philippians 3:7-11

The importance of a clear perspective

A clear perspective changes everything.

Think about a turnaround that had an impact on the rest of your life? For Paul, it was the moment he met Jesus Christ on Damascus Road. He went from persecutor of the Christian faith to promoter and defender following this meeting, which provoked three developments in his life.

1. Introspection

2. Retrospection

3. Prospection

1.Introspection

We are not talking here about observing your mental but examining the state of your soul. Perspective starts with introspection. Here are some examples in the Bible of people who experienced the introspection phase in their lives. It happened with Zacchaeus, the prodigal, and with Paul on his way to Damascus. When Zacchaeus met the Lord, he responded, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

After the prodigal son blew up all his inheritance in wild living, he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. Pressed by hunger, he responded, “How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!  I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’

When the Lord met Paul on his way to persecute Christians, he responded, “'Lord, what do you want me to do?' The Lord said to Saul, “Arise and go into the city, and there you will be told what you must do.”  Introspection calls for a response. Have you ever set time apart to examine your relationship with the Lord, with your spouse, your colleagues, your co-workers, your boss, your parents, your family, your brothers and sisters in Christ? Following that examination, how did you respond? Some of you might say, “I do not have time for that.”  If you never have time to examine yourself your life, you will keep on repeating the same mistakes without hoping to make progress. But If you had ever responded positively, retrospection would have followed automatically.

2.Retrospection.

As you know, retrospection is the action of looking back on or reviewing past events or situations, in your own life. We do it a lot in church circles, but for the most part to record and display the material progress made in the gospel. But this kind of retrospection has nothing to do with our soul.  If reviewing your past is all about material those who were born poor, lived poor life, and died poor had no reason to look back on their past. What we are talking about is examining past life in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What did you strive for? What were your priorities? Listen to what Paul had to say in the preceding verses, I mean 5 and 6 before elaborating on our passage., “ I was circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee;  as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. His education, offspring, social rank, religious background, his membership in the prestigious Pharisee group prevented him from believing in Christ.   What did prevent you from believing in Christ? All this to say Paul was not anybody. But the things that were important in the past became garbage at the time he wrote this letter.

 Have you ever heard people talk about their past? Who they were, where they come from? And it makes them proud. This is exactly what Paul was.

But a new vision forced him to say today that all things were garbage: social class, nationality, family descendants, religious authority, religious ceremonies, great education received, school attended, connections, friends’ relationships.

If your past, however glorious it may have been, still matters you did not drop anything on your walk with Christ. Why all those things are still important? It is because your priorities are for the body. Jesus did not give his life to save your body but to save your soul. We do not look back to regress but to progress.

The third thing we want to talk about today is : Prospection

This is a feeling of excitement about something pleasant or exciting that you know is going to happen. For example, companies that prospect for gold believe one day they are going to find gold deposits. A Christian must have big expectations. Without introspection and retrospection, it is hard to have prospection and finally a clear perspective. As we saw, as years went by, Pauls’ perspective became clear. What about yours after meeting the Lord for so long time?   As a Christian, what should you be excited about? They are six points: The righteousness in Christ, A new life in Christ, Life of constant victory over sin, The desire to be with the Lord, your name written in the book of life, Your future resurrection in Christ. In the end, the value of knowing Christ surpasses all else.

Jesus gave in Matthew 13 two parables relating to the kingdom of God. He compares it to a treasure that a man has found and for which he traded off al he had to acquire it. 

But neither Peter and his companions nor Paul ever sold anything for the Kingdom of God. Peter left his bark full of fish and Paul abandoned everything for the Lord. Instead of selling, they just gave them away for something beyond estimation. What do you want to give away for the Kingdom of God? Or why do not want you to give away anything? Have you ever heard someone say,” Things are not clear”, meaning I do not know what to do, I am confused? I have no money.  Very often, it is not the things that are not clear.  So, do not rush to blame things, the situation, your employer, your business, your wife, your husband, your kids, politics, the economy. We need to admit we need a checkup with the greatest ophthalmologist of all times, Jesus, to correct our vision. Either we change glasses or undergo cataract surgery. Are you aware that you have a vision problem? Sometimes, things are blurry because of our vision.

To what can I compare perspective to show its impact on your life at all levels.   Let us take, for example, the different stages of life. A baby views life in the light of a baby. Once you became a teenager, if you had continued to view life in the light of a baby, you would have never grown up mentally. When you got married, if you viewed life as a single person, your marriage would not last one night.  When you got children if you kept on living like a single person it is the Department of Children and Family or jail or prison that would have a chance to raise those children for you.

 A transition must happen unless you are smarter than Peter, than Paul. For those who think the possessions of this world are more important than the Kingdom of God, I have a question:  Do you think they  are smarter than Jesus who gave his own life to bring us the Kingdom of God? I do not think so either.

So, it is time to remind you of this saying, “Lose to win.”

A friend of mine is used to saying,” The first loss is always the best.”

The only way to win the Kingdom of God is to lose all you have for it.

God bless you.