I recently went on vacation with my family and we visited Zion National Park. I was very excited to hike to Angel’s Landing. I had read about it and heard about it from friends. I had researched it, looked up YouTube videos and I could not wait to do this hike.

Angels Landing is one of the world's most renowned hikes and is an unforgettable adventure worthy of all bucket lists.
- Utah.com

I should mention that I am afraid of heights. My palms get sweaty, my heart races, my mouth dries up, and sometimes my legs begin to shake. That is part of the reason I wanted to do this. I work on my fear of heights by willingly and safely facing my fear as I have opportunities to do so.

I did not enjoy the summit for too long. My wife and kids were waiting for me back at Scout’s Lookout about one mile away from me, but since two-way traffic is tricky at many portions of the trail it was a very slow one mile. So I took some pictures and hurried back to my family.

Why do I share this story? Because I did a lot of thinking as I was hiking up that trail. One thought that kept bouncing around my head was why was I doing this and why not just go back? To which the answer was, I wanted to see the view from the top. Also, though the climb was challenging, it was not impossible. Thinking about what it would be like to stand at Angel’s Landing motivated me to keep going.

If I had focused on the fear and discomfort I would have probably just given up and come back.

Your perspective shapes your experience.

I thought a lot about this as I was on vacation with my family exploring National Parks. In the business of life, we can easily lose sight of the eternal. In the pursuit of instant gratification, we sacrifice future joys. Having the right perspective helps us prevent heartache and achieve more lasting joy.

10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
- John 15:10-12 NKJV

There’s a phrase that has gained popularity over the last few years and rightly so, it is a powerful truth, and that is that Jesus is greater than religion, or people who say they are spiritual and not necessarily religious. Or that they follow Jesus and not any one type of religion. I largely agree with this sentiment or statements of this nature. I too choose to follow Jesus and the moment my religion or denomination teaches or behaves in a way that is not in accordance with the life and teachings of Jesus I question it. I believe that Jesus is our standard. However, this sentiment can easily lead me to simply avoid accountability and just follow my personal preferences. Many times this phrase “I am spiritual but not religious” is synonymous with I follow my heart, my feelings, and not necessarily any specific set of rules.

So here is my understanding of Jesus’ words as recorded in John 15:10-12. Jesus obeyed God’s commandments and He invites us to do the same because doing so strengthens our relationship with Him and He causes us to experience the fullest joy we can while living on this planet. God’s laws are not religious burdens but rather a practical demonstration of our love for God and each other.

Please follow along with me and let me know if this makes sense to you.

When I love God, I do not desire to worship any other gods. I also refrain from making images or representations of Him because that would twist my relationship with Him in an unhealthy way. He is not like other gods and idols who are not gods at all.

I would also be careful with God’s name. Words are powerful things and they shape our memories and thoughts and even feelings, so taking care of how I use God’s name increases the quality of my personal relationship with Him.

I will also enjoy spending time with God and it will be a joy to keep the Sabbath holy.

When I love those around me I will naturally honor my parents, refrain from committing murder, or adultery, from stealing and being dishonest, and I will also not covet what belongs to others.

God’s laws are basic principles and guidelines that help me not only have a healthier relationship with Him but also with everyone around me.

The way that I see it, the more I think about God the more my behavior will be shaped by my love for Him. The more I get to know God the more I fall in love with Him and the greater my desire to live a life that reflects that love.

The Value of Perspective

For this reason, I believe that perspective is so important. If I am not intentionally thinking about God or making room for Him in my life, I can end up leaning heavily on religious behavior as a replacement for an authentic walk with God. That is when legalism creeps in, and I try to earn God’s favor and salvation through my right behavior. With the wrong perspective, even correct behavior becomes a problem. This is why I believe that behavior should not be our focus, but rather perspective. I strongly believe that the “why” is of greater importance than the “what.”

Sabbath

I believe that God created the Sabbath as a reminder to look at things from the right perspective.

The Sabbath reminds me of creation. The creation account reveals an intentional, loving, and powerful God. A God who creates a perfect world, a God who makes all things good. A God who wants reality to be very good. I serve a God who is able to provide, so I can rest when He invites me to rest. The God of the Bible is interested in having a relationship with me, the Sabbath is essentially a date with God. God did not create me to simply do things, and the Sabbath reminds me of that because God is inviting me to stop working.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
- Exodus 20:8-11 NKJV

God Himself gave us the example by stopping and resting, even though He never gets tired (Isaiah 40:28). I see this as very similar to when Jesus was baptized, even though He did not need to be, but He did it to be our example (Matthew 3:13-17). God was not tired, but He rested, in doing so He legitimized rest, and also heightened the value of quality time spent in developing deeper relationships. God placed a premium on time spent with us by choosing to rest with us as opposed to working.

I believe the seventh day of the creation week also reveals the main reason God created us. God wants to spend time with us. Every week we are reminded, on the seventh day, that God created us and desires to spend time with us. This is not primarily a religious practice, this is not primarily a commandment, this is primarily a sincere desire for a meaningful connection, for a personal relationship. Religion and commandments guide and remind us, but the deeper truth goes beyond the letter of the law. God’s law reveals truths about His character, it reveals the desires of His heart. God wants to spend time with us.

Isn’t it ironic that the God of the universe wants to spend time with us every week, and we think He is asking for too much? Is it not sad that some turn the Sabbath rest into a burden and legalism? I see the Sabbath from a perspective of God’s love and desire to connect with me in a personal and meaningful way.

The seventh-day Sabbath also helps me look at life from the proper perspective. God created the world, but the emphasis of creation came on the seventh day, the highlight, the ultimate goal, was relationships. The fourth commandment reminds us of the importance of working six days but also highlights that the rest is for everyone in the family, the workers, the foreigners, and even the animals. Once again, it is not merely a religious practice, it is vital for our spiritual wellbeing. The weekly Sabbath rest on the seventh day of the week is meant for all of creation to pause, and gain perspective.

The Sabbath invites us to ponder eternal truths. God has blessed and set aside a day for us to reflect on what is truly important in life and to invest in it. I see the Sabbath day as an opportunity to invest in my personal relationship with God, with my wife, with my kids, and family members, and friends. So I freely choose to not engage in monetary exchanges. I can conduct business during six days of the week. But the seventh day is so special that I do not want to miss out on its blessings by doing things I can do any other day. This is a day to do more of what feeds my soul. Invest in my walk with God, invest in my relationships with those around me, the people I wish I had more time to dedicate to them throughout the week, on the Sabbath God has given me that time and invites me to use it wisely.

For me, to watch secular TV shows, or listen to secular music, or to engage in business, or to do school work would be to waste the precious sacred hours of this blessed day. The Sabbath is not a burden, it is an invitation to make an investment in what has deep value, even eternal value.

Deep Value

I hope you have not had to experience a funeral or memorial service recently. But in a way, that experience has some things in common with the Sabbath because it also causes us to pause and gain some perspective. At a funeral, we are faced with eternal truths and the consequences of our life choices. People usually do not talk about how much money someone made, their GPA, or their Net Worth. What do people talk about? Have you ever considered what might be said about you should you die one day? We don’t like to think about that. But I am not asking you to necessarily think about death, but rather to carefully consider how you are living.

At a memorial service, we also talk and think about eternal truths, eternal life usually, but we are also aware that another possibility is eternal destruction. We do not like to consider the second option, but we know that when it is all said and done there are only two eternal options available to everyone.

This perspective brings to light what I would like to call deep value. What in your life has deep value? How much time and effort do you dedicate to the things that have deep value?

Second Coming

When we think about life, and when we think about death, I often think about the beginning and end of the Bible. Genesis describes a perfect God creating a perfect world and the fall of that world. This is why we have death and suffering. The last book of the Bible tells us of the end of this world, this sinful world with death and sin, and of the recreation of a perfect world.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
- Revelation 21:1-8 NKJV

Thinking about the second coming of Jesus is also great for providing us with perspective.

So the seventh-day Sabbath and the second coming help me frame my life in light of deep value and eternal truths.

The Cost of Perspective

I really enjoyed my vacation with my family. We visited Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, and the Grand Canyon National Park. We did all this in 8 days total. There was a lot of planning ahead of time. We saved for this trip, we planned the trip, we rented a camper van, we bought food, we planned each day.

Things did not always go according to plan, COVID restrictions made things interesting, this was our first time so there was a learning curve, we have kids who are 7 and 8 and always keep things from being too predictable. We woke up at 2:00AM to drive three hours to Atlanta to drop our car off at a hotel (in order to save on parking fees) then take a shuttle to the airport, we made it just in time to get our flight. We flew from Atlanta, GA to Denver, CO, and had just enough time to buy the most expensive bagels and smoothie we ever purchased and eat on the flight from Denver, CO to Las Vegas, NV. When we arrived in Las Vegas we took an Uber to where we rented our vans, we were starving and grabbed some food then realized one of the van doors was not locking well so we returned to van rental place and ate in their office as they got us a new van. We had to take everything out of one van and put it in another. Then we drove to a grocery store to buy our food supply for the next few days and then we hit for the three-hour drive to Zion.

That first day was extremely exhausting. Our days were made up of cold breakfast, long hikes, and long drives. But we had an amazing time and made memories that will last a lifetime!

I tell you this story to tell you this, it is not easy, but it is worth it!

Resting on the Sabbath seems like the easiest thing on earth until life happens, and you are tempted to study for an exam, to work a few hours because you could use the money, or the boss is asking you to, or there’s a competition you want to participate in. Suddenly, you have some competition. Is your special time with God really necessary? Is it really worth it?

I find it interesting how we often rationalize that God will understand our situation. When in reality we are the ones who do not understand our situation. We lose perspective. We begin to value the things of this world above God. We place temporal things ahead of eternal things. We begin to cheat, lie, cut corners, thinking it will benefit us. Thinking it will help us get ahead, or be happier. With the wrong perspective, we fail to value what is most valuable. We sacrifice our future for immediate gratification.

Fathers walk away from kids, spouses cheat, children dishonor and hurt their parents, mostly we hurt ourselves, ruin our careers, ruin our health, ruin our finances, all because of not having the right perspective. All because we refused to make time for God in our lives. If you only make time for God when it’s convenient then God is no longer God. Jesus is no longer LORD.

The consequences of rejecting God and His will not only increase pain and suffering in the world, and especially around us, especially hurting those who love us most, it also has eternal consequences.

So even though it can be challenging to take a Sabbath break, even though it can make us a bit uncomfortable to think about the second coming of Jesus and judgment and the end of the world, I believe it is incredibly worthwhile. With this perspective, the perspective of deep truths, we can live our best possible lives. When we live in accordance with God’s will not only do we enjoy a deeper joy but we also become a beacon of hope and blessings for those around us.

Look to Jesus

Jesus is our ultimate example. Jesus went to the equivalent of church in his time and culture on the Sabbath.

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
- Luke 4:16 NKJV

Jesus also spent time alone in prayer.

And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.
- Matthew 14:23 NKJV

[I will restrain myself from going deeper into the topic of prayer here but you can check out these posts to go deeper on this topic. Always Pray, The Privilege of Prayer, Ask, Prioritizing Prayer, Not as I will, Spiritual Warfare, Some of My Favorite Bible Verses on Prayer.]

Jesus understood the importance of perspective. When Satan tempted Jesus he tried to shift Jesus’ perspective away from His mission, away from the will of the Father, to immediate gratification, to an easy out (Luke 4:1-13).

Jesus kept the right perspective, He placed the will of the Father above His own immediate desires as a suffering human. (I know that Jesus is God but He had set aside His divinity, so He was suffering as a human)

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
- Matthew 26:39 NKJV

Jesus kept the right perspective and achieved the ultimate victory. It was not easy, but it was worth it!

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
- Hebrews 12:2 NKJV

Call to Action

Maybe you have lost perspective recently. Maybe you never saw the need to fully commit to God and to invite Jesus into your heart. Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, I want to invite you to take one step in the direction of God. Do not put this off. Do it today, gain perspective, live with this new perspective. God is calling you to live your best life! He will enable you to do it!

for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
- Philippians 2:13 NKJV

May we live our lives with the right perspective, with the joy that God sets before us. God offers us eternal life, a new world without pain or crying, or sorrow.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
- Revelation 21:4 NKJV