Another sermon in which I felt like God was making a point to me about how I should approach this upcoming year.
Perspective: a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view
Whether or not we realize it or not, we use the idea of perspective in our everyday life. For example I use it every time I take a picture or when I’m lining up a long putt for a birdie when I’m golfing with my foursome every Tuesday evening. But what about the bigger picture about perspective and maybe some of the negative aspects of the term that we may do in our lives without even realizing it?
Once again my Pastor’s sermon hit the nail right on head again this past Sunday with sermon about this very topic. He talked about the idea of perspective from all the major viewpoints: personal, local, national and international.
Personal Level:
One of the many points that he made that caused something in me to stir was how we as humans have a tendency to get a preconieved notion of a person and even judge them before we actually meet them and talk to them, and I must confess that I am VERY guilty of this as I have done more often then I can count with an example being when I first met the ladies that I play golf with, and my first impressions of them, and how I viewed that opportunity to enhance my own ego and pride as I was having my own issues with my golf game as last year was the first time in over 10 years since I had last played plus I am also extremely competitive so to finally be able to beat someone in golf gave me the motivation to volunteer to join them for my own personal selfish reasons, but instead it turned out to be one of the most awesome blessings that I could ever have received. Yes this was the Holy Spirit convicting me of this bad habit, and even tho I admit that I do this, I guess I never really took it seriously enough to actually do something about it until now as I will try to be more careful about judging people especially since I know that is not my job or no one’s job really except for Jesus/God.
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.
3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? –Romans 2:1-3
Just as I have judged others, I know that I myself will be judged especially overseas where being a American is not something that I can take pride in especially knowing how the rest of the World views us, and I know that in every country that I will be serving in I will judged in so many ways, but I know that I will surprise a lot of people for not everything that they see on the outside is not what is one the inside.
First and foremost Yes I am an American and yes I grew up in the snobbiest town in Michigan and yes I can look intimidating, but here’s the truth:
There’s no denying that I am a American (although I have unique advantage of lying and saying I’m from Canada haha) When I say where I’m from- I claim I from Detroit (mostly cause no one’s heard of my actual hometown) plus saying I’m from Detroit also has its own aura about it too (another story for another time). Even on outside I may look intimidating, but inside I am that classic Midwesterner type: friendly, hard worker,outgoing, willing to help and very accepting of others, and stubborn too. I also am not your typical idea of who a Christian is either for I am quiet about my faith and not one to beat you over the head with a Bible telling you that you will go to hell if you don’t accept Christ like some people’s idea of a Christian is (I’m also Presbyterian, and that is not in our nature to do that even, but you get my point)
I am a 90s kid, and was a very well versed in what was going on out in the world outside of the US as not only did I watch the local news, but I also watched the National news which also talked about all the major events that were going on internationally as well. So I knew about events such as the fall of the Soviet Union, famine in Ethiopia as well as the Civil war/genocide in Rwanda and other parts of Africa just name a few. This had a huge impact on me as even when I was young I wanted to do something to change the world, but I knew that there was no way that I could since I was just a kid, and those thoughts eventually faded away as I got older or so I thought.
Now as an adult (and have a background in political science/international relations), I have a more mature view of the world, and all that has happened over the years. Those childlike ambitions have given way to a more practical view, and while I have a chance to help improve the lives of people in less then perfect countries by means of serving on this year long mission, I am going into this adventure with guarded optimism for the world today is a totally different place now compared to the 90s. Yes most of the people in the world have a negative view on America, and its people and its leadership, but even if I can change 1 person mind about what Americans are really like then my job is done.
Trust me sometimes living in the US isn’t all that its cracked up to be either as we too have our own issues, both good and bad, in our own states/hometowns that don’t get broadcasted to the rest of the world. So please don’t judge all Americans solely on a few people since the majority of us are pretty awesome.
We are all people of God (depending on your religion), and that is something that we should keep in mind cause in the end we will all end up the same way.
I swear God has a sense of humor.
Til next time your fellow Sister in Christ,
Bonnie
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