Mountains or Foothills
by Steve Ridgell on Aug.02, 2010, under Hope
I recently drove across the border from Idaho into Oregon and I was telling my Oregon friends about the incredible beauty I observed driving through the mountains. They thought I must have gotten lost, but I insisted I drove straight there. Then they laughed at me. What I was calling “mountains”, they described as foothills. Of course, we were describing the same view… just from different perspectives. Being from West Texas, those foothills seemed to me like mountains. And my friends often drive thru the Rocky Mountains, so these foothills seem like gentle inclines.
I wonder if this illustrates the difficulty that Christians have communicating with those who do not believe Jesus really is the Son of God. As a Christian, my view of this life is different. I see this life as the shadow of what is to come. Eternal life with Christ is my reality. End of life issues are not a time of critical crisis. Economic crisis is not a matter of panic and despair. Sickness and natural disaster can be faced secure in the knowledge that God is in charge. This world is not my home; it is not where I am most comfortable. I will always be a stranger and a pilgrim here.
But for my non-believing friends, these things are incredibly frightening and disturbing. For them, this life is their reality. So sickness, death, economic crisis, natural disasters, and other life situations do become overwhelming and unmanageable. From their perspective, how could they not be?
And how strange we Christians must seem: how out of touch with reality. Yet, our world view makes perfect sense to us. It is hard for us to understand how anyone can fail to see how much better our reality is. Some of us with a Christian perspective remember what it was like when saw things from a different perspective. We chose to change.
So if you wonder how we Christians can see things the way we do, I’d like to visit with you. I’d enjoy sharing my perspective with you. And I would like to hear yours It is a conversation worth having.
Blessings,
steve
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As Christians, we see things in the light of eternity. Non-believers can’t see past the temporal realm, at least not in the truthful way of it. We know the afflictions of this world are only light and temporary. We know what we have to look forward to and that is what gives us hope that non-believers don’t have.