How to Change Your Perspective on Life

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Jay John: You see, most of us are constantly being shaken. We're being stressed. We're being pulled. But when I look to the Lord, I'm not going to be shaken. I'm not going to let anything shake me. I'm not going to let anything make me feel downcast.
John Fuller: Today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, British evangelist Jay John has words of encouragement for each one of us. Thanks for tuning in. I'm John Fuller. Over the past few years, Jay John has become a favorite among you, the listeners. And so we wanted to share another great message from him. Today, he'll be talking about perspective. And if you've ever gone through a tough time, you know how important it is to have an accurate perspective on your situation. So I think this presentation will be invaluable to you.
Jim Daly: I'd agree. And here's Jay John speaking at River of Life Church in Felixstowe, Suffolk, England.
Jay John: Killy and I went to speak at this conference, and they put us up in a hotel. We were put up on the 37th floor of the hotel. It was pretty high. We were about to go to bed when we started to hear some fireworks. The curtains were already closed, so we opened the curtains and we couldn't believe it. The fireworks were just outside our window. Literally outside our window. But we were like one floor above the fireworks. So we drew two chairs, pulled them by the window, sat by the window, and we had a 30-minute firework display. We were able to view them from above. The perspective was completely different to any other experience that we had had in our lives viewing fireworks. Now, what do we need in life? We need insight, we need foresight, we need oversight. Insight is like looking at something detailed, so it's like looking at something through a microscope. Foresight is looking at a distance, but it's like looking through a telescope. Oversight is a bit like being in a helicopter looking down at where you live. The perspective is very different. Now, who has insight? Who has foresight? Who has oversight? Only the Lord. And that's why in worship, we are tuning into the melody of heaven. We're tuning into God because what do we want? We want to have His insight. We want to have His foresight. We want to have His oversight. And of course, we want to have some hindsight. Wouldn't you fancy a bit of that as well? It would be very good to have a bit of hindsight, but sometimes we've got so many blind spots, haven't we? And if a human doesn't reveal those blind spots, it would be great if God will. And God will. He really will. So, what I want us to do this morning is I want to encourage you to look in five different directions. Five different directions. You see, if we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. Now, what was God's first question to Adam? "Where are you?" What was Jesus's first question? "What are you looking for?" That was his first question. God's first question, "Where are you?" Jesus's first question, "What are you looking for?" So I'm going to ask you those two questions. Where are you? Where are you hiding? Are you hiding behind some fig leaves? Where are you? What are you looking for? And I want to remind you this morning to look in five directions. Number one: look up. The Psalmist in Psalm 121 wrote this, "I lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." Look up. Are you feeling a bit down and heavy, burdened? Don't look down. Look up. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. I'm looking up. Have you noticed today, people with their little mobile phones, and they walk in the street like this? I can't believe it how they do it and not look like this. Now, have you noticed this? I do people-watching. I actually like going to coffee shops for a little coffee, a nice almond croissant, but I like watching people. And I've noticed this. They do this. Now, when you remove the phone, notice their body posture. They all need to see a chiropractor. They're hunched up. Stand up. Look up. This lady went to see her GP because she was feeling very down, very downcast. And the doctor said to her, "Look, this is what I want you to do." Because the doctor knew that from home, she walked to the station to go to work. So she says, "Right, this is what I want you to do. For four weeks, I want you to walk out of your house, walk to the station, and when you walk to the station, I want you to look at the chimneys of the houses. Just do that. That's my prescription for you. Four weeks. Come back and see me." She went back to see the doctor. Doctor says, "How are you?" She says, "I'm amazing. Amazing." You know why? Because she stopped looking down. She started looking up. Because she looked up, she could breathe better. She could feel better. Just the physical posture of just looking up. And for us, of course, we're looking up to the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. And it's a reminder, isn't it? This Lord who is the maker of heaven and earth. I mean, if He made the whole earth, all the heavens, He's pretty capable. He's pretty capable, and it's a reminder that actually when I start looking up rather than looking at focusing on my little problems, I gain insight, I gain foresight, I gain oversight, and it changes the way I see things. So we read in Psalm 105, verse 4, "Look to the Lord and his strength. Seek his face always." Look to the Lord. Look to His strength because our strength is weak. And we read, "Those who look to Him are radiant." They're always looking to the Lord. They spend time with the Lord. They're drawing from the Lord. Psalm 16, verse 8, "I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken." You see, most of us are constantly being shaken. We're being stressed. We're being pulled. But when I look to the Lord, I'm not going to be shaken. I'm not going to let anything shake me. I'm not going to let anything make me feel downcast. So, look to the Lord. And there's quite a lot of pressure in our societies, in our world, in our communities not to do that. But I would rather stand with God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and be judged by God. Number two: look in. So we read in 1 Samuel 16, verse 7, "The Lord doesn't see things the way you see things. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Psalm 139, "Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me, see if there is any offensive way in me." We were staying at this hotel and I'm like a little kid when I get into the room. I want to have a look at the view, look at the room, and then I go into the bathroom. In this particular hotel, there were two sinks. I was a little happy bunny. And they had a big, big mirror. Like five times the size of our mirror. And I was like, "Wow." But sometimes the big mirror is a bit too big, really, isn't it? Because you don't want to see everything, do you? But then there was this little mirror. It was a magnifying mirror, and the light came on, and I looked at myself. "No!" Killy thought I'd slipped in the bathroom, so she comes running in. "What's the matter? What's the matter?" I said, "I've got blackheads. I've got blackheads." You see, I hadn't seen the blackheads even in the big mirror. The big mirror didn't show the blackheads. I pulled this little mirror out. It was like I thought my nose was one big blackhead. Where did I get this blackhead from? Now, what would it be like if you and I looked into God's mirror? At the airport, you've got to put your stuff through an X-ray machine. You've got to go through a machine. What if we went through God's X-ray machine? What would God pick up? What would God pick up in my mind? What would God pick up in my heart? What is it He would pick up? What would He see? He'd see all sorts of things. Jesus made eight statements. They're known as the Beatitudes. And the word beatitude in Greek, makarios, blessed, be happy. And in one of those, it says this, "Blessed are the pure in heart who shall see God." The word pure in Greek—I'm Greek, so don't worry, but now you can say you know a little Greek—but the Greek word for pure is katharos, which literally means no mixed motives. So who are the people? Who are the people that are going to see God? They're the people who have no mixed motives. They're the people who have no agenda. No other agenda, no other motive. They're the people. There's no underlying hidden little thing going on here. I'm looking to the Lord. That's what I'm looking for. I'm looking to the Lord. But I know as I look into my heart, I need some cleansing. We look up. We look in. I'll revisit the looking in in a moment. Number three: we look back. So we read this in John 1, verse 29. John, who is John the Baptist, saw Jesus coming towards him and said, "Look, there is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." He's the one who takes away the sin of the world. We've got three sons. When our firstborn son, he was about four, he and I went to buy his mom a Mother's Day present. So we're out looking at stores. He's four years of age. We go into one store. As we walk into the store, there's this massive sign and the sign read, "Do not touch. All breakages must be purchased." Why didn't I just walk out? I mean, and it's not just I've got a four-year-old son, I know what I'm like. It's almost like because it says do not touch, there's this pull, isn't there? You just want to prove the point that you can if you wanted to. But Michael's only four, and I saw it from the corner of my eye. He knocked it. And it was like slow motion as this thing just fell to the ground, and I was like, "No!" And it fell to the floor. Smash! The manager came out of nowhere. I mean, it was like beam me up, Scotty. And the manager just stood there. Didn't say a word. Pointed to the sign. Do not touch, all breakages must be purchased. Now, there's no way that four-year-old Michael could pay for the damages. Only his daddy could pay for the damages. There is no way that you and I can pay for the damages. Only our Heavenly Father can pay for the damages. And He did.
John Fuller: This is Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, and we want to encourage you with a free set of audio downloads featuring five messages from Jay John, plus this one with extra content. You can get free access to the Jay John collection at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast or call for details, 800-A-FAMILY. Let's return now to more from Jay John.
Jay John: Number four: we look around. And in Matthew 5, verse 14, this is what we read. "You are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will praise your Heavenly Father." So yes, we have sung. Yes, we are fellowshiping. We're digging into God's word. But when we leave, we leave as His witnesses, as His ambassadors. You see, people don't care how much we know until they know how much we care. They don't care how much we know until they know how much we care. Now, some people create happiness wherever they go. And some people create happiness whenever they go. I mean, let's be honest. Come on, there are, aren't there? I mean, sometimes when they leave, you're like, "Oh, that's good, isn't it? Oh, dear." Don't be one of these people that creates happiness whenever you go. Be one of these people that creates happiness wherever you go. In other words, you and I can make the difference in someone's life. So, leave the church today and say, "Lord, I'm a channel of your goodness and grace. Help me to make a difference this week. Whatever it means, whatever it is. Whether it's to a neighbor, whether it's to an acquaintance, whether it's to a random person, what can I do? How can I be a channel of goodness, a channel of grace, a channel to touch the lives of others?" Do you ever occasionally get a prompting and remember someone you haven't seen for years? Doesn't that happen randomly? Well, where did that thought come from? Was it just a random thought or was it a God-thought? Was it God bringing that person to your attention? I remember once I said to Killy, "Killy, I really feel God wants me to go and pray for this woman." So Killy goes, "Well, you better go." And I said, "It's an hour there, and then I'll end up spending an hour with her, and then an hour back. That's like three hours. Oh, boy. Where am I going to find three hours to go and do that?" Anyway, time passes, and I said to Killy, "I really feel I should go and pray for this woman." And Killy goes, "Well, you better go." I say, "Yeah, yeah, it's an hour there, an hour there, an hour back. I've got to find three hours. I've got to find like a whole morning or a whole afternoon." I didn't go. A few weeks after that, we listened to the news. Our alarm goes off at 5:58. We listen to "Thought for the Day" on Radio 4. 6 o'clock, get the news headlines. The news came on, the number one news of the day: the woman died. She's on the news. Her name's Amy Winehouse. And you're thinking, "Well, how could you have gone to see her?" Because she rented my cousin's house. And my cousin said to me, "Jay John, whenever you want to go and meet Amy Winehouse, tell me and I'll take you." And I didn't go. Because like it's going to take me three hours. I'm not going—I didn't go. I was so remorseful. I was repentant, and I said to the Lord, "I will never do that again." And I can honestly say to you, my wife's here, that since that day, any kind of prompting, any kind of quiver in my liver, any kind of anything, I'm doing it. I'm going to go. I don't care if I look like a fool for Christ. I'm going to do it. And I have done. I think of somebody, I'll contact them. I'll phone them, I'll email them, I'll text them. I feel a prompting, I'll go and do it. I'll just go and do it. And I have and I will continue to do it until I'm promoted to glory. So I'm encouraging you. Don't be like me. Now, you know, I didn't go and see her. Did God have a Plan B? Did someone else go and see her? You know, it's a challenge, isn't it? So, just do it. Do it. And so we read this in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 18. "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Eternal." You know, the Bible says that the length of a good life is three score years and ten. Now, three score years and ten, that's 70 years. Now, some of you are thinking, "Goodness, I'm older than that." But even if you got 100 years, do you realize that 100 years is just a blip on the eternal screen? It's just a blip on the eternal screen. That's all it is. So it's like, "Whoa, look ahead and live your life in the light of eternity and prepare yourself for eternity." You know, not many people today have got that hope. A lot of people's hope today is a bit like a hospital gown. You're usually not as well covered as you think you are. Well, you can hear it sometimes. You hear it in people's voices. "I hope so." What do you mean, you hope so? This is a done deal. Number five: we look forwards. Life without Christ is a hopeless end, but life with Christ is an endless hope. It's an endless hope. I like what Job wrote: "You will feel secure because there is hope." So I want to encourage you to leave today, say that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to keep looking up. I'm going to keep looking in to remain clean. I'm going to keep looking back because it's only the Cross that redeems me, saves me, heals me. I'm going to experience all that, and then I'm going to look around. I'm going to be a channel of this to others, but I'm going to look forwards. Go as far as you can see and see how far you can go. Go as far as you can see. You see, that's the thing, isn't it? Because it's like, "Well, how far can—I can see right up to there." But when I go up there, I can see further. That's my encouragement to you today. Go as far as you can see and then see how far you can go. Press on. Move on. Become bigger, better for the Lord. Look up, look in, look back, look around, look forwards.
John Fuller: What an inspiring presentation today from British evangelist Jay John on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.
Jim Daly: That was such a great message, and I think I'm going to have both my boys listen to it. It seems like young adults are especially susceptible to having tunnel vision, and Jay John's message was such a great reminder to always be looking for the bigger picture.
John Fuller: That's true for all of us, I think so, but especially for this generation of 20s and 30s. There's something there that they need.
Jim Daly: Yeah, and Jay John just has so much wisdom. And we finally got him to come to Colorado last fall, and it was really a joy to meet him and Killy. They're very genuine, and over the few days they were here with us, they spent a lot of time just praying for the people they met in the halls. It was awesome. One of the things that most impressed Jay John and Killy during their time here was our team of counselors who spend all day on the phone giving great advice and listening to people who need the help. That's a free service we've been honored to provide for almost 50 years now. So if today's program brought up an issue that you'd like to talk about—perhaps you're worried about someone who seems to have lost perspective in life, maybe it's you—just give us a call. You know, our nation is only as strong as the families in it, and we are working hard every day to provide resources for your marriage and for your parenting journey. And as a non-profit ministry, we do rely on your partnership to give those resources to everyone who needs them. Now, a one-time gift is great. It helps us today. But think of this: a monthly gift essentially helps us every day to provide resources for every family that God sends our way, day in and day out. Here in July, we're looking for 1,200 monthly donors to join us. It only takes 90 seconds to set it up. Did you time that, John?
John Fuller: I did not.
Jim Daly: And you can adjust the amount or cancel at any time. And when you make that monthly pledge of any amount, we'd like to send you a great book from Jay John called *Jesus Christ: The Truth*. It provides logical support for Jesus's time on earth and the resulting growth of Christianity. It would be a good book to read and then pass along to a new believer. And if you can't make a monthly pledge right now, we understand. We'll send you the book if you can make a one-time gift of any amount. And regardless of whether you can make a donation, we have a gift for you. Visit us online to gain access to a free collection of five great messages from Jay John, plus today's presentation with extra content.
John Fuller: Yeah, access the Jay John collection at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. And when you're online with us, donate please and request your copy of *Jesus Christ: The Truth*. Or call to connect with a counselor or to order resources or if you have any other questions. Our number is 800-A-FAMILY. And next time, Dr. Kevin Leman will explain how your birth order can impact your marriage.
Guest (Male): We tend to marry outside of our birth order, and that's a good thing because simply marrying outside of your birth order increases the probability of success in marriage.
John Fuller: Thanks for listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I'm John Fuller inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.