Perspective Plans

“In such a fearful world, we need a fearless church to bear fruit.” C.S. Lewis

On a recent hike through a tropical rain forest, my wife and I encountered many beautiful vistas toward the mountains and toward the ocean. They were gorgeous.

On one particular hike, though, as we came back up the same trail toward our vehicle, we saw this pineapple plant. It was there all the time.

Now, we could have drawn the conclusion that there were no fruit trees on our hike; and, we would have been wrong.

We only saw the pineapple because we viewed the trail from a different perspective, coming up rather than going down the trail.

Do your best to gather all the facts you can, which may mean listening to another perspective, before taking a step of faith in following Jesus.

You can only make a decision with the information you have at the moment. But, be prepared to modify your course, if Jesus allows you to “see” new information.

This doesn’t make you a failure. It makes you a follower. As long as you stay in and with the Word of God, Jesus, you’ll get better at seeing the truth He wants you to become.

And as you do, this brings fruit.

Broken Yet Usable

“We live in a world crushed, broken and torn, a world God Himself visited to redeem.” Elisabeth Elliot

It’s been said, “God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It took a broken Peter, weeping bitterly, to return with greater power than ever.”

It isn’t until we realize that we’re broken that we’ll turn to Jesus to make us whole again or saved. He died and rose again, not our best broken choices, to make that happen.

It isn’t until we realize that we’re broken that we’ll ask the Spirit to use us, like He does broken soil to produce a character crop that others can enjoy.

Someone wrote, “My broken experience is not who I am. It’s all just a reminder of how far I’ve come from where I used to be.”

Our Father will complete the job of fixing our brokenness.

Until then, rather than focus on our repeated cycle of dumb choices, focus instead on the One who loves and can use us despite our brokenness.

Your brokenness or His love and strength? Focus is everything!