Children can draw so nicely. Everything appears flat on the paper. A house has no depth.
A cow only has an outline. A road are two parallel running lines.
They do not go anywhere…
When a person grows up, (s)he watches the perspective. Therefore, the drawing will look different. One chooses a focal point, preferably outside of the paper. All the lines go to this point.
Suddenly, a house is situated in a space. And the road is going somewhere.

God’s Focal Point⤒🔗

And in life it is just like that. You can live without seeing any depth. You experience the things that happen and put them beside each other. They have no connection, there is no depth, no purpose. So, you experience the one day and then the next. Separate from each other.

Until your eyes open for the focal point to which God leads everything: the great day of the coming of Jesus Christ! Then suddenly you see the lines in your life running to that point.

Now you look differently at the things which are happening. You see them as a part of those lines; they have a direction. There is even a connection: you discover that they have a growing intensity.

On the Way to the Fall of Babylon←⤒🔗

Disasters follow each other in rapid succession. Due to globalization, we know almost instantly what is happening elsewhere on earth. Too much to keep track of. Negative reports about the economy fill the news. But they are not just separate events, they stand in line. A line which ends when all of Babylon, the business world of man, is destroyed in one single hour (Rev. 18:10). The world where many dark affairs take place. People will be stunned, and say: but how is this possible? For this was a mighty stronghold, rich and untouchable.

Many will stand with empty hands that day. Disappointed for ever, disillusioned.

That is why, says Jesus, before the day of the Lord comes, I will show signs on the earth that look like this (Acts 2:19-21). We are to understand these signs as a warning. Just like the earthquakes and wars. The most beautiful things can suddenly come apart, as a harbinger.

Not that God wants the evil, but he places a message in it. That is the perspective we ought to see. And explain that to the people around you, otherwise the message is lost.

On the Way to the Great meeting←⤒🔗

But God’s focus is not only a point of destruction. Not even so in first place. It will be especially a day of meeting him. That is why even now God has set up days of meeting, to bring focus in our lives. These are days over which we sometimes have differences of opinion, namely what is allowed and what is not allowed. But that is often when we have somewhat lost focus.

The days of rest are namely markers to indicate that you are on your way. They do not exist separately form each other, but they allow you to look forward and they give you a foretaste of the glory to come and the repaired harmony between heaven and earth.

In our hurry, we can rush right past these days of rest. Because in our thoughts we just continue with our work. And sometimes not even only in thoughts. It is impossible not to lose your sense of direction at that point. For you are focused on what is short-term. Your perspective is not there. Your inspiration is gone as well.

Is it not time then to celebrate the days of rest once again? From the focus of the resurrection of Jesus Christ? As he rose from the dead, he will open our graves on his great day.

He will make our humiliated bodies like his glorified body. Now we live in faith, but then we will see.

This expectation needs to live in our hearts. Giving direction to everything we do. Every day of the week.

On the Way to Fulfillment and Restoration←⤒🔗

All of creation is groaning. There is so much suffering, disappointment, injustice, senseless violence. We also groan inwardly, we, who have received the Spirit (Rom. 8:23).

Every day the news reports about rebellious behaviour, discontentment, riots, fighting in the street, abductions, rape, civil war, refugees who have nowhere to go. Who would not be mourning?

At the same time, it is a groaning in hope. For we are in expectation. They are not just loose events, but pains as in childbirth which take hold of the earth. So that new life may be brought forth. A new world is coming!

This society will pass by quickly. But she is pregnant with tremendous promises. Now there is still time to speak of these promises, to invite (more) people. For no word of God shall remain unfulfilled. The elements will be destroyed, and be brought together anew. But then clean and without decay, cleansed by fire.

Whoever faithfully looks around, will see a disastrous world. And yet, a world being directed by God. God directs this world with a steady hand, according to his promises.

Your Entire Life May Come Along←⤒🔗

In that world you start working, you start studying. What happens to all that? Are those separate works, without connection or future?

Revelation 14:13 reads: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord…, for their deeds follow them!” There again you see God’s focus. Your deeds, your life’s content, everything comes along to the great meeting. Suddenly everything has direction. Not only you personally, but also all your deeds and your achievements are cleansed with Christ’s blood, they are being kept, and they will contribute to the coming glory. How? No idea, that is a big surprise.

Now is the time to make sure that then there is something to be cleansed. Deeds you have done in faith, deeds with which you wanted to serve God. A life full of merriment can also be cleansed, but nothing much will be left of it… That person suffers loss, even though he is saved (1 Cor. 3:15). That is how important perspective is. For the depth in your own thoughts.

Agenda←⤒🔗

And then suddenly it shows that perspective works both ways. When you see where the lines converge, then from that point you will see the lines coming toward you. The focal point is still far away, but the road towards it lies right in front of your feet. You see the goal, and therefore also where you are placing your feet today.

“Your deeds follow you” is a comforting text for a message of someone passing into glory. But that text also looks good in your agenda. Then you start to work with perspective. You do not jump from the one appointment to the next, all loose beside each other. But you start paying attention to the line, which God brings into your life. How will you then do things?

How will you deal with other people? At school, at your work, in daily life?

Perhaps you will also cancel certain activities.

For time is short, and you start to prioritize.

Seek first the kingdom of God, then the rest will fall into place.

Close By←⤒🔗

The lines in your life are an enormous stimulus to look forward to the meeting.

You can even bring it close by. For God’s focal point is not only a day. It is especially a person: Jesus.

Everything ends in him (Phil. 2:10-11).

He himself is not the future.

You can meet him now already.

See in him the perspective of your life.