Matter of Perspective

So a little over a week ago I had the opportunity to attend a Cleveland Cavaliers game as a “guest of the Cavaliers.”  This meant that I had access to pretty much everything there at the Q minus the locker rooms.  It really was a lot of fun and I got to see and do things that most people will never get to do in their lifetimes.  This privilege was mine through my brother and his friend Daryl who is in sports radio in the Cleveland area.  Daryl was working the game and we tagged along and watch the game from the media area with him.

What really struck me throughout the entire experience was how different the reactions of my and my brother's reactions were to those of our host.  Daryl has been to so many games in all the different sports in his 15 years covering the Cleveland teams that it’s become old hat to him to be at the games.  The access to the players that he and his fellow media members have, the places he gets to go in the different venues are all just normal to him now.  To my brother and me they were new experiences, and frankly we didn’t know what kind of boundaries we really had, other than the one thing noted on the tags around our necks – “No Locker Room Access.”

I think this can also be applied to us in our Christian walks.  After a while we get used to seeing the things that God will do and it can become “old hat” to us.  It’s not that we don’t appreciate the access that we have to God, but instead we don’t really grasp how much it can mean to others to have that same access to Him.  When we first accepted the fact that Jesus died for our sins we were enthralled with all that He was doing in our lives.  It’s like our eyes were opened for the first time.  As time went on that newness went away and we were still appreciative of all that He was doing, but it didn’t have the same sparkle when we viewed it.

Today I just want to impress upon everyone that this life that we’re leading with Jesus is a matter of perspective.  To those who don’t have Him in their lives they really wonder what it would be like, and some are even afraid of what it would be like to walk alongside of Jesus.  When they finally do make their decision for Him they have wide-open eyes.  They have that “new car smell” and love having it.  Sure, the newness will wear off and will become accustomed to their new life.  We need to make sure that their becoming accustomed to their new life doesn’t eventually turn into complacency.  Instead we all need to keep growing in our spiritual walk.