having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,
I’m sure you’ve heard the story. It’s a short story about two men in a hospital room by an unknown author. I’ll shorten it more here.
Two men were in a hospital room, both very ill. The one by the window could sit up in bed for an hour each day. The other had no way of seeing out the window. They grew close, chatting quite a bit. Each day the man by the window would sit up and describe what he saw to the other man. The view he described was so wonderful and delighted the other man. One day the nurse found the man by the window had passed away peacefully in his sleep, so they had the body removed from the room. The other man asked to be moved by the window. Once he was moved, he tried for the first time to sit up and look out the window only to discover nothing but a white wall. The man asked the nurse why the other man would lie about what he saw. The nurse simply said “Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you and make you happy. You see, your roommate was totally blind”.
Our view depends a great deal on our hearts. When we look out a window or off a deck to see the view, we can either see beautiful flowers or just a bunch of weeds. We can choose to see things around us in a good way, or a bad. It all depends on where our heart is.
Many people look at God and see a tyrant. A cruel dictator that wants to take away all the fun in life and just make us obey. They see God as a rule maker who just wants to hold us down and take all the joy out of life. Their view is skewed in a negative way. Our view is one of the worlds, not a view of God’s promise.
If you look at God, talk with God, read His word, you will see a God who is love. He is not a cruel dictator who wants to give us a bunch of rules. He’s a God who has gifted us with free will, to choose right or wrong, good, or bad, beauty or a blank wall. God promises a beautiful, eternal kingdom for all of us. He wants us all in that kingdom with Him. But it’s up to us. We must choose the view.
Look at God with a heart full of love and you will see His beauty and you will welcome His gentle direction. Change your heart and you change your view.
Choose to make your view the one of unimaginable beauty and peace.