Perspective: INTRO
2 Corinthians 4:18
…we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
Most of us have sat in a classroom or attended a seminar where a presenter flashed an image on the screen and asked us to identify what we saw. Maybe you were shown a horse that, when turned sideways, looked like a frog. Perhaps you argued with fellow participants over whether you were seeing a duck or a rabbit in Jastrow’s drawing. Or were you asked whether the woman in the picture was young or old, only to realize, after squinting and twisting, that you could see both?
Perspective. So many factors shape how we see the world and what is happening around us. Our past experiences, culture, worldview, prejudices, presuppositions, and the comments of those we trust all inform our perspective. Our insecurities and fears, pain and pride, shape how we interpret events. Critically, once we see things a certain way, it is difficult to see them any differently.
Artists often play with perspective. Sidewalk chalk illusionists, photographers, and even selfie-takers use forced perspective to create fantastical images. By altering distance, scale, angle, and placement, they exploit how the human eye processes depth to give the impression that a tourist is crushing the Eiffel Tower underfoot. It turns out that being too close or too far from something easily distorts our sense of what is real.
What if this is true of our spiritual lives as well? Are we tempted to make a single moment, a day, or a year the sum total of God’s work on our behalf? Are we in danger of drawing the wrong conclusions about God because of the forced perspective created by losing a job, being falsely accused, being diagnosed with cancer, or the death of a loved one?
Thank you for joining us for this sermon series, Perspective: The Life of Joseph. In it, we will wrestle with our character flaws and recognize that Joseph was far from perfect. We will come face-to-face with disappointment, unfairness, abuse, and neglect. We will notice how often, amid the bleak darkness of difficulty, the Bible says, “Yahweh was with Joseph.” We will see what faith looks like as this forgotten teenager experiences God breaking the “forced perspective” of pain, loneliness, and cruelty to show him that “… in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28). By the end of Joseph’s life, the slave is elevated to ruler, offense yields forgiveness, and abandonment turns into belonging. Finally, we will take a week to look at Joseph and notice that, with a slight shift in angle and a squint, we see contrasts and comparisons to the face of Jesus.
So, let me show you some images on the screen. What do you see? If you turn your experiences at a slight angle, you might break the forced perspective of proximity to what happened most recently and see a new picture come into focus: Jesus is with you.
…we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
Most of us have sat in a classroom or attended a seminar where a presenter flashed an image on the screen and asked us to identify what we saw. Maybe you were shown a horse that, when turned sideways, looked like a frog. Perhaps you argued with fellow participants over whether you were seeing a duck or a rabbit in Jastrow’s drawing. Or were you asked whether the woman in the picture was young or old, only to realize, after squinting and twisting, that you could see both?
Perspective. So many factors shape how we see the world and what is happening around us. Our past experiences, culture, worldview, prejudices, presuppositions, and the comments of those we trust all inform our perspective. Our insecurities and fears, pain and pride, shape how we interpret events. Critically, once we see things a certain way, it is difficult to see them any differently.
Artists often play with perspective. Sidewalk chalk illusionists, photographers, and even selfie-takers use forced perspective to create fantastical images. By altering distance, scale, angle, and placement, they exploit how the human eye processes depth to give the impression that a tourist is crushing the Eiffel Tower underfoot. It turns out that being too close or too far from something easily distorts our sense of what is real.
What if this is true of our spiritual lives as well? Are we tempted to make a single moment, a day, or a year the sum total of God’s work on our behalf? Are we in danger of drawing the wrong conclusions about God because of the forced perspective created by losing a job, being falsely accused, being diagnosed with cancer, or the death of a loved one?
Thank you for joining us for this sermon series, Perspective: The Life of Joseph. In it, we will wrestle with our character flaws and recognize that Joseph was far from perfect. We will come face-to-face with disappointment, unfairness, abuse, and neglect. We will notice how often, amid the bleak darkness of difficulty, the Bible says, “Yahweh was with Joseph.” We will see what faith looks like as this forgotten teenager experiences God breaking the “forced perspective” of pain, loneliness, and cruelty to show him that “… in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28). By the end of Joseph’s life, the slave is elevated to ruler, offense yields forgiveness, and abandonment turns into belonging. Finally, we will take a week to look at Joseph and notice that, with a slight shift in angle and a squint, we see contrasts and comparisons to the face of Jesus.
So, let me show you some images on the screen. What do you see? If you turn your experiences at a slight angle, you might break the forced perspective of proximity to what happened most recently and see a new picture come into focus: Jesus is with you.
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