2 Kings 6:8-18, Mark 5:21-43, Mark 6:30-44, Romans 12:1-2, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Mark 8:33

David Kramer gives instruction on how to have a kingdom perspective

David Kramer

Toward the end of summer I spent a number of hours on the roof of our bungalow clearing the moss and cleaning the tiles. Not a bad place to be in sunny weather, provided you don't nod off and fall off - I didn't!

Our home has a public footpath alongside it, so I also chatted with quite a few folks I wouldn't normally meet, particularly as my ladder was in our back garden, but I was on the front part of the roof. Many of them asked how I got up there, but I don't think they believed me when I said we had a trampoline in our back garden!

You get a different view from up there. You can see further, you can see more and you can see things that are hidden from view at ground level. I saw things that had been there all along, but I'd not seen before - it was real but had not been real to me.

That got me thinking about perspective and whether or not we see as God sees. The Bible has numerous examples of different perspectives of the same situation/event. Here are a few:

In 2 Kings 6:8-18 Elisha has become a thorn in the side of the king of Syria so he sends, ".... a great army ...." to surround the city where Elisha is staying. Elisha's servant gets up the next morning, sees the army and sees disaster (his perspective). Elisha tells him that they outnumber the Syrian force = a different perspective. The servant? - Yeah right! There's just the two of us! So Elisha prays that God will open his servants' eyes. God does and, ".... behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." They had been there all along but you needed a 'view from the roof' to see them.

In Mark 5:21-43 Jairus, full of faith, begs Jesus to go with him and heal his daughter who, ".... lies at the point of death ....". Jesus sets off to go with him, the crowd is slowing them down and then they are further seriously delayed by the healing of the woman with the flow of blood. Jairus, probably frantic by now then hears the awful news, ".... Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?" = a worldly perspective. Jesus' response? ".... Don't listen to them; just trust me." = a kingdom perspective, the view from the roof! So, on they go to the house where Jesus tells all the mourners that the girl's not dead just sleeping. Now that's a different (kingdom) perspective! Then He raises her back to life.

In Mark 6:30-44 with the feeding of the 5000 it says that after Jesus was given the five loaves and two fish He, ".... looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves...." (emphasis mine). Why? Well if he'd looked down he would have seen a tiny, totally inadequate 'supply' of food. If he'd looked outwards he would have seen a vast crowd that it was just not possible to feed = an earthly perspective. By looking up to heaven he got a view of the kingdom's limitless resource = a kingdom perspective, a view from the roof.

So, how do you and I get our own view from the roof? Not from a trampoline!

Paul tells us in Romans 12:1-2. First we are to present ourselves to God - look up not down or around. Then we are to be TRANSFORMED by RENEWING OUR MINDS.

The transformer toys are fascinating. One minute it's a car then the next minute it's a robot. Yet the components are all the same, they've simply been re-arranged! That's what Father does with us - I'm still me, but I'm not me!

And ultimately it's not by some amazing miracle (great, encouraging and helpful though they are); not by attending inspiring conferences (great, encouraging and helpful though they are); not even by reading brilliant Life Files!!!

We need to develop the discipline of taking every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5 - I guess Jairus had to do a lot of that), and persistently keep changing our minds until we ARE transformed.

You see, a trampoline does give short-lived glimpses, but by using a ladder and climbing one step at a time we can actually step onto the roof and take a good long look from a kingdom perspective. It's called building line upon line, precept upon precept and it means we become progressively less likely to revert to our old world view. (See also Mark 8:33.)