Perspective : “Woe is me,” cried the mouse, “for life is short and full of sorrow with cats and traps all about, we’re never sure about
tomorrow!”
“Oh no,” said the horse, “for life is long and full of leisure, with all this food and grass about, each day is just another pleasure.”
And so it appears to be, as the horse and the mouse have said, “Life is either good or bad – it’s all what’s in your head.” It’s all in one’s perspective.
Take the death of Jesus on the cross some two thousand years ago – how did Mary, the mother of Jesus, view her Son’s death? Tragic? Overwhelmed with grief? Horrific mistake? Inhumanly cruel? How about His disciples? Fear for their own lives? Disbelief that their Lord – the One they had put all their hope in – was dead? Perplexed as to why crucify an innocent man who did only good and preached truth and taught love? Couldn’t believe this was happening? What about the crowds who followed Jesus and witnessed His miracles of healing countless people with myriads of diseases, and feeding thousands of people with only a few small fish? Disillusioned in the miracle=worker? Sorrow and sadness? Disappointed because He taught with such wisdom. Why? they wondered.
How about the Jewish religious leaders – the scribes and the Pharisees? Smug that the One they accused of blasphemy was dead? Justified in their thinking that He deserved to die? Glad that now they would not lose their prestige in the synagogue? Proud that they appeared to have defeated the One who had called them hypocrites? How about the Roman soldiers who had beaten Jesus, mocked Him, nailed Him to a cross, and plunged a sword into His side? Relieved that their job was done? Guilty for their barbaric treatment of a man? Nonchalant – all in a day’s work?
What about Jesus? What was His perspective? He agonized over His pending crucifixion. He pleaded with cries of anguish and tears to the Father – “If You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Your will be done.” He surrendered His will to the Father’s will. He was obedient. Still, Jesus knew the Father’s plan was that He would shed His blood on the cross in our place, for the forgiveness of sins of the human race. But was there some other way this could be done? His Father did not send Him into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Jesus knew the outcome. From His perspective and because of the joy set before Him, He would endure the cross, although He despised the shame of it.
What was God’s perspective? God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Because God loves us with an everlasting love, because man was hopelessly lost in sin, because Jesus was the only One who could atone for the sins of mankind, because without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins, because there was no other way.
We can learn a valuable lesson from the mouse and the horse; we can all look at life from our own biased perspectives, but in the end, wouldn’t it make sense to try to see it from God’s perspective?