The Great Divide: Perspective

If you frequent the international travel scene, without doubt, you have witnessed the plethora of mesmerizing and thought-provoking ad campaigns HSBC has pushed over the past couple years. Plastering the jet ways of terminals globally, their images and words are engraved into our mind provoking contemplation. Subtle, yet stimulating. Gently passive, yet provocative. In the end, they encapsulate one concept.

Perspective.

HSBC’s slogan, “The World’s Local Bank” seeks to identify their recognition of various cultures, traditions, religions, identities, and ultimately, values. On these billboards read, “The more you look at the world, the more you recognize that people value the same things but in different ways.” Brilliantly illustrated, these ads contain one word accompanied by a few pictures depicting that word OR vice-versa with one picture identifying a few words describing the same image. My personal favorite depicts the word, “courage.” Three powerful images. A solitary microphone, a young man bungee jumping, and a woman in her garb of mourning. Distinctly different. Strikingly similar. Unquestionably linked.

Courage.

Our lives tell a story. The attributes we display are no random occurrence, but a product of time and decisions. How easy to label others a villain or hero, a terrorist or saint, a failure or success...yet is our urgency of branding others a fear of change in our own lives? Are so entrenched in our perspective that we fail to see truth or opportunity? 

A few years ago, I had the privilege spending an evening with a wonderful group of Palestinian refugees from a camp outside Beirut (Lebanon). Over a cup of coffee we discussed our life’s dreams, hopes, and visions. That evening, the voice of one young man caught my attention. He shared his passion. To one day be a suicide bomber. Be assured of this. He did not wake up one morning and identify himself as an extremist, fundamentalist, or terrorist. Rather, the pain, hopelessness, turmoil and hatred of life changed his value system.

How easy for us to allow our pride or politics to fill us with animosity and judgment blinding our eyes from seeing a soul in need of love and hope. Perspective. Courage. A step in their shoes. A taste of their pain. A tearfor their loss. A prayer on their behalf. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend."

I believe it is our perspective that prevents and limits our lives from the pursuit of excellence. One writer put it, "God has called you to see the invisible and do the impossible.” We live in a fabricated box of limitations and settle into a life of mediocrity. We accept the boundaries, social norms, and expectations of others. We live to avoid failure, disappointment, or loss. William MacDonald said, “With faith, if impossible is the only objection, then it can be done.” 

In the Torah, a beautiful illustration of perspective in revealed. Moses sends twelve spies into Canaan to scout out the land God had promised to give His people. He tells them to “Be courageous!” (Numbers 13:20) [See here for the full spy report] As the spies returned to Moses, the reports were conflicting. Two spies, Caleb and Joshua, proclaimed, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it!” (13:30) while the remaining ten declared, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we…we saw the giants…and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight.” (13:31-33)

Twelve men. Two perspectives.

What was the difference? Caleb and Joshua looked to the promises of God as reality (remember God had ALREADY promised the land to Moses and His people) while the remaining spies saw only the impediments and threats of man. The ten hid behind excuses and belittled themselves in the process while Caleb and Joshua amplified God and prepared to go forward. Does the lens of fear magnify every obstacle or do we trust a loving Heavenly Father who says, “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)  

A fresh perspective is born, not through meager self-will, but rather through a fresh gaze on Jesus Christ. Like Caleb and Joshua, we are not called to understand the answer to the question “Why?” but rather, to trust the One leading. If we know Him, love Him, and trust Him, then we will obey His commands. (John 14:21-24) We will choose to love when staring hate in the face, we will choose to forgive when retaliation seems more fulfilling, we will choose to give when to take is more satisfying, we will choose to sacrifice when selfishness is more appealing, and we will choose to listen when pride is more alluring. 

True perspective is when we can lift our eyes from fog of this world’s chaos and declare, “the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18) The journey of truly trusting God starts in knowing the One who said, “Do not let your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know and the way you know. I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:1-4,6)

My eternal hope is not bound in this world. We can focus on the superficial symptoms of suicide bombers, nuclear weapons, economic crises, or broken relationships, or we can look at His provision and promises.

Do we see ourselves as helpless “grasshoppers” (Numbers 13:33) or have we lifted our gaze to God’s eternal promises? Are we living for more than the eye can see, or are we trapped in the reality of the present?

It takes courage. One word: Perspective.