The Right Perspective
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Colossians 3:12
When I was little, my parents told me never to look directly into the sun, for its rays could blind me. Still, I was fascinated with the golden orb, steadily moving from one horizon to the other.
Back then, I imagined the sun revolved around the earth. After all, I stood with feet planted in the sharp Florida grass, and that beautiful yellow ball daily arced around me and everyone else in my world.
Of course, later I learned the truth. Our earth, small and woefully dependent, continually tracks the heat and energy of the sun. And of course, I also learned the world doesn’t revolve around me, either, a necessary fact all children must realize.
Today’s passage reminds me of my necessary shift in perspective I had to make. Paul, an ancient church planter, was writing to the early church in Colossae to counter false teachings and to teach them how to serve with passion in the name of Jesus. He wanted them to “clothe” themselves with these values, to let them “rule” in their hearts. They were to make a conscious choice, a definitive selection, to act one way instead of another.
As Christians, we’re to do the same. We are to shrug off our old way, self-centered thinking and behavior, and stop thinking the world revolves around ourselves, and instead focus on loving others well and putting them first. We’re to love others as Jesus loved us: by giving ourselves over in sacrifice, losing ourselves in loving them, God’s people—both those who have become followers of Christ already and those who are yet-to-be Christians.
Today when I gaze at the sun, I still sometimes forget correct perspective and think for a moment that it’s revolving around me—just like when I walk in the world, sometimes I think it’s all about me and my needs, my comfort, my safety, or my happiness.
But then I remember the Truth, my perspective shifts, and I walk with God … the right way.
Jessica Brodie is an award-winning journalist and a member of the Wholly Loved Ministry team. She’s also an author who currently serves as the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism. She is the author of More Like Jesus: A Devotional Journey (2018) and editor of Stories of Racial Awakening: Narratives on Changed Hearts and Lives of South Carolina United Methodists (2018), both from her newspaper’s Advocate Press. She also writes contemporary women’s fiction, represented by Bob Hostetler of The Steve Laube Agency. Her novel The Memory Garden won the American Christian Fiction Writers’ 2018 Genesis Contest. She has a faith blog at JessicaBrodie.com.
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Originally published Monday, 05 August 2024.
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