Seeing Life through God’s Telescope

“Looking at life through God’s eyes is seeing your death or the death of a loved one (or the death of a key relationship) and then living from the [knowledge of the] other side of that--now!

“The essence is this--if that vision doesn't motivate us to want to transform our lives and the way we live them, nothing will.” (Author’s own God-inspired quotation.)

This is a way of living in the light and seeing all of life as both a divine, present mystery and unique living history. We’re all vital players in the writing of our incredible personal histories.

And this speaks of two concepts not foreign to Christians. The first is vision; the second, obedience.

VISION

Vision is not just about ‘seeing visions.’ It’s also about seeing things through a particular lens, and a far-off lens at that. Looking at life from the other end and looking back through it--as if life were a long open-ended cylinder--we get a unique dose of the insight of life-transforming vision.

This is what people with terminal cancer get if they get the time and inclination. They get to look at what’s really important in life and they quickly realise life is mainly about relationships, and not stuff, and certainly not themselves.

OBEDIENCE

We’re all slaves to one thing or another... or perhaps many things--if we’re unlucky or unwise. It is better to be slave of what is right than it is to be a slave to what is wrong. Getting our relationships wrong this side of death is so utterly avoidable.[1]

We actually have what it takes to be who we were meant to be to our loved ones, neighbours, work colleagues and others.

But, we must put these two (vision and obedience) together.

Being OBEDIENT to the VISION

We have to be obedient to the vision we get. We believe it because we ourselves see it. We can’t help but respond to it passionately, because it is the very essence of “me-ness.” It strikes us at our heart. We’re suddenly and irrevocably committed.

What was almost impossible to sustain beforehand (i.e. a forsakenness of self) suddenly becomes the only way.

And this is what it really means (without limiting it), I think, to experience the resurrection life of Christ Jesus.

Again, the context of our death (and the deaths of those people close to us) gives our life more intrinsic meaning. It’s part of God’s eternal view of things.

When all’s distilled, there’s nothing quite like the vision of things we get when we immerse ourselves in our imminent death. After all, we will all die sooner or later; isn’t it time we began living life more from this viewpoint so the regrets are few?

Copyright © 2009, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

[1] See Paul’s comments in Romans 6:15-18.