Perspective

Perspective is one of the most important things we must keep in our walk as Christians. How we perceive ourselves will directly influence our ability to receive what God has for us.

The overwhelming view of Christians is that they are filthy sinners who scrape into heaven after being lambasted by God until they finally die and are made whole. We are, in truth, saved from this existence and made whole right now. Until we take hold of that perspective we cannot truly hope to receive anything from God.

James writes "Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord, [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]." (James 1:6-8) The perspective of the passage is the focus on the double-minded or wavering man, however if we look from the other perspective, that of the single-focussed man, we can see that this passage suggests (when taken in the context of the whole of James' letter) that this man who is single-minded and focussed on Christ as his whole being can expect to receive everything he asks for.

We lose sight of ourselves at our peril, and we must learn to see ourselves as we truly are. Only when we can finally allow ourselves to overcome the fears and prejudices we feel and live in God's perspective of us as His children can we hope to truly advance the Truth in our lives.