FAMILY FAITH:

I was thinking today about perspective. It began with my thoughts of what slander can do to another’s reputation. One may be innocent, someone tells a lie about them, and those who sinned by listening to gossip and believed the lie have a perspective on an innocent person that God knows is not true. Because God has the accurate perspective.

Then I began thinking of a woman I sat with years ago. She had been molested as a teen by a professional — and her mother never helped her get restitution for this crime. The woman had adult children. When I counseled her, she still suffered under the weight of her mother asking how she had contributed to the molestation. The true perspective here is that the woman was innocent. But her mother had denial issues. God, however, saw the true perspective on this woman. He still does — and God grieves.

A biblical example of Jesus’ perspective is in the story of the woman caught in adultery. The Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery and wanted to know what Jesus had to say about stoning her — because the Law of Moses commanded a stoning for such a sin. Jesus knelt and began writing in the sand. He told the Pharisees that whoever is without sin should throw the first stone. They all left. Jesus then told the woman that neither would he condemn her, but to leave her life of sin (John 8:1-11).

What was Jesus writing on the sand? We can only speculate. But could it have been another’s sin? Could it have been the lust of one, the lying of another, the legalism of still another? Again, I am only wondering. But I do know one thing: Jesus saw this woman and the incident with perspective. And His will was for her to go in spiritual health and sin no more. He did not shame her, He did not stone her; He forgave her. I’m guessing that the value put on this woman by Jesus brought about a greater repentance than a stoning.

Where are you this day in your own life? Does your perspective need to change? Perhaps an intolerable child who constantly whines? Could it be that there is a painful need with that child that must to be addressed? Are you unforgiving toward a friend who judged you? Perhaps you let her down first.

Have you been misjudged because someone did not know your own perspective and the pain you have walked through? Go to that person and humbly tell them of your sorrow. I have found that in honesty and addressing issues as they arise, our perspective changes. We become people who can receive compassion, deliver grace and have a true and godly perspective on life not as we see it, but as it truly is.

And when we function in this way, it is yet another example of the fruit of the Spirit being alive and well in the lives of believers. This is how Christians can be different from the world — as the Bible calls us to be.

?The Rev. KIMBERLIE ZAKARIAN can be reached by e-mail at holyhouse9@ gmail.com or by mail at Holy House Ministries c/o the Rev. Kimberlie Zakarian, La Vie Counseling Center, 650 Sierra Madre Villa, Suite 110, Pasadena, CA 91107.