Thousand Year View

What is bugging you today?  What does your world look like to you?  Do you feel blessed, or are you weighed down by the concerns of this world?  It’s easy for Christians to lose their kingdom perspective and begin to see everything from a strictly human point of view.

During a training session that I attended many years ago, the facilitator illustrated to us that it is easy for us to lose perspective on issues because we are too close to them and can’t effectively see what’s really going on.  She suggested that we try to pretend that we are in an airplane that is flying over at one thousand feet high.  From that height, we can still see everything but we also get a little distance between us and the weight of our current issues.

As a Christian, I’d like to put a little different spin on that approach.  We’ll call it the “Thousand-Year View”.  Imagine for a moment that a thousand years has gone by and you’ve been in heaven for a long time, praising God and basking in His glory.  All of a sudden, He calls you to come to Him.  You are so caught up in worship and praise that you don’t want to stop for a moment, but you do because the Lord has beckoned you.

You go to the Lord and He directs your attention to a big-screen TV which begins to play a video of your life.  As a matter of fact, it’s a video of exactly what you’re going through right now in your world!  He lovingly asks you if you believe that He was there with you during that time.  Your response is, “Of course, you were, Lord!”

He responds, “Won’t you trust me to be in control of your life both then and now?”  “Yes!  Of course, Lord!  I trust you completely!” you voice your reply.  “Then go back to that time and trust in me.”

We are told in the Gospel of Mark 8:33; Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”