Today in God's Word—August 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
August 14, Luke 21
Is it a vase, or two profiles in silhouette? In another popular example, the ink drawing depicts an old woman; but upside down it looks like a beautiful young lady.
Different viewpoints aren’t always optical illusions. To a stranger, Granny looks like an old woman. But to her children and grandchildren she is beautiful. An old dresser looks like a piece of worn-out junk to me, but my wife may see a valuable antique. Sometimes beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.
I heard a story from years ago about an evangelist who left his family at home and rode a train across the country to preach in an evangelistic meeting. He arrived on Saturday evening, and was a guest in the home of one of the church’s elders. After the Sunday morning service, they were having dinner at the elder’s home. The table conversation came around to the contribution that morning. The elder had counted the money and reported with dramatic disdain that someone had the gall to put a single penny in the collection! With humility, the evangelist told the elder he was the one who had given the penny, and it was all the money he had after paying his own train fare to come to the revival.
Jesus said the widow who gave two small copper coins out-gave all the rich people who put their gifts in the offering box. No human accountant would be likely to see it the way Jesus saw it. But the Lord knew the woman was giving all she had to live on to the treasury (which probably supported her). It was generosity out of poverty, and it weighed a lot more with God than a token contribution from the wealthy. The size of a gift depends on the perspective from which it is viewed.
We shouldn’t be surprised when God’s perspective is different from ours. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. He looks at the heart while we see what’s outside. The disciples saw the magnificent temple, adorned
with noble stones. Jesus saw forty years into the future and said not one of those stones would be left on top of another after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. Jesus told the disciples that some of them would be put to death. Two sentences later he said, “But not a hair of your head will perish.” From a human point of view, it’s a contradiction. But the eternal Christ saw existence and well-being consisting of far more than life in this physical body.
Messiah’s enemies would see death and destruction in the events Jesus foretold, but the persecuted disciples would see deliverance and vindication. The same cataclysmic occurrences would produce two very different outcomes, depending on perspective.
When you find yourself disagreeing with God, it’s wise to try to “see it his way.” By his grace, God offers us a better way to see him, ourselves and the world around us.
From The Abiding Companion: A Friendly Guide for Your Journey Through the New Testament, Copyright © 2010 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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