Getting Perspective – Fun in Washington D.C.

On a recent trip to Washington, D.C., our family enjoyed some fun getting perspective. In the featured picture above, you can see the Washington Monument at night. Here, the boys and I are laying at the base of the monument looking toward the sky. It looks like the monument is a sidewalk all the way into heaven. It was a gorgeous night, and there were many great conversations as a result.

Notice the pictures below. In the first, you can see the boys standing next to the monument. Compared to their true-to-life sizes (both under 6′), you can see just how big the stones of the sidewalk are. You can see a different perspective. In the second and third pictures below, Korbin holds the monument up in his hands in one and grasps it in the other. Again, the distance from the sidewalk at the south of the monument provides an entirely different perspective as to its size.

We took the obligatory pictures of leaning against it from a long distance and holding it in our fingers as a toothpick as well.

All perspective.

 

A Different Perspective

As I read a passage in Romans 8 this past week, I could not help but remember these pictures from just a few weeks ago. Paul wrote:

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8:17-18)

Do you notice his perspective change?

The sufferings of this present time

versus

The glory which shall be revealed in us

Paul makes a very simple but profound statement. When you compare the sufferings of today against the future glorious intentions of God through Christ both in and for us, Paul claims, the sufferings of today are not worthy to be compared.

Change In Perspective

I will not belabor the point here. Paul intends for us to see the perspective difference.

Our circumstances and suffering, at times, can seem amazingly large, complex, complicated, and overbearing. However, when placed next to the glory God has for us in eternity, they cannot even be compared.

Consider our pictures above. Our perspective of the Washington Monument changed as we changed against what we were comparing it.

Two observations:

First, this does not mean that your suffering can be ignored or is not important. Just as the Washington Monument is still very large, your suffering can also be very large in your life. We do not deny the suffering in light of the future.

However, second, we must see that God does expect us to keep it in perspective. Although large, when comparing it to our guaranteed future as those who are joint-heirs with Christ and who will be glorified, they are not even comparable.

Therefore, today, whatever the suffering is in your life, let me encourage you to compare it to what lies ahead for you in Christ!

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39)

 

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