It’s Important to Have the Right One
We can be blind even when things are staring us in the face.
This is what happened with Jesus’ followers. Even those closest to Him. Those who knew Him better than anyone else on earth. They saw Him give sight to the blind, heal the lame, cast out demons, even bring people back to life. He had been teaching them and explaining what was going to happen. They still weren’t seeing things clearly.
They were looking at things from a worldly perspective.
A perspective is a particular way of looking at something. Too often when we have a perspective about something it is hard to change the way we see it.
The Jews in the Old Testament were looking for relief from the Roman oppression and tyranny. They were convinced that Jesus was going to overthrow the persecution and oppression they had been experiencing and become their king.
Even after Peter, James, and John shared in Jesus’ Transfiguration on the mountaintop … they still weren’t getting it.
And we’re talking about a pretty amazing, out-of-this-world, experience.
“He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.” (Matthew 17:1-8) His face was as bright as the sun! This is bright—really bright!
Yet even after this experience, the disciples still missed the magnitude of what they were witnessing. They were still looking at things from a worldly perspective. They were looking at what was in it for them.
There was bickering amongst them. Jesus told them they lacked faith. Judas betrayed Jesus to the church authorities. They all ran away when Jesus was arrested. They watched Jesus be whipped and beaten. Peter even denied knowing Jesus. Then He was crucified on a cross. This is not what they had envisioned.
It wasn’t until after Jesus came back to life that they finally began to understand.
Just like Jesus died to the world … we need to die to the world.
Like Jesus’, we can have life after death. We need to nail our worldly perspective to the cross. We need to ask ourselves: what do I need to nail to the cross and leave behind?
Having the right perspective is up to us and it will make an eternal difference.