A university student wrote a start- ling letter to her parents:

Dear Mum and Dad:

I have so much to tell you. Because of the fire in my room set by rioting students, I suffered lung damage and had to go to the hospital. While there, I fell in love with an orderly. Then I got arrested for my part in the riots. Anyway, I’m dropping out, getting married and moving to Alaska.

Your loving daughter

PS: None of this really happened, but I did fail a chemistry exam, and I wanted you to keep it in perspective.

We might question this student’s method of breaking the bad news to her parents, but her approach highlights a truth: Proper perspective is essential.

When Paul encouraged the church in Corinth, he wrote a list of his own very real trials and tribulations. To gain perspective, he shifted his focus to the eternal. “Our light affliction,” he said, “is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).

In some ways our perspective is more important than our experiences. Paul continued, “The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (v.18). Our sufferings will diminish in importance when compared to the glory that awaits us.

Author

Haddon W. Robinson

Topics

Our Daily Bread