From Heaven's Perspective

As I get close to finishing my study of Romans and come into the home stretch in chapter 16, I notice something encouraging about the way Paul writes and thinks about the people he is addressing. It is the labels that he chooses to use as he sends his greetings to quite a number of people he hopes to meet soon. This links into my own issues with how I view other people in the church and the choices I make about how to talk about them.

Do I allow myself to describe people based on their problems and hang-ups? Do I label people according to the flesh and the ill feelings that may be produced in me through their interactions with me? Do I sort people out based on whether they make me feel good or discourage me? Or can I, like Paul, choose to perceive the true identity of others based on the viewpoint of heaven and speak words of inspiration and hope into lives that have been beaten down with negative labels for so many years?

One thing I have noticed is that a person generally has a difficult time viewing others through the eyes of heaven if they cannot accept heaven's perspective about themselves. It is only as I embrace the truth about my real identity in Christ that I can begin to see others in the light of heaven and start to pray for them effectively and guard my words and thoughts about them to be encouraging in nature. I know that it is all too easy for me to be tempted to try to convict other people by pointing out their faults and shortcomings and label them in various ways that tends to lock them into negative ruts. But that only accomplishes the devil's objectives of keeping them discouraged and feeling helpless and does nothing to advance the work of God in their lives. I have plenty of personal examples of this kind of labeling all around me and the baleful effects that it can produce. But I want to become a source of hope and a channel of life for those who have been suppressed and confused far too long already.

Let me highlight some of the labels that Paul uses in chapter 16 for the people he is writing to or refers to in this letter.

...a servant of the church... receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints... help her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself as well.

...my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life risked their own necks...

...my beloved...

...Mary, who has worked hard for you.

...my kinsman and my fellow prisoners, who are outstanding among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. (Note that this was written very possibly before Paul became an physical prisoner himself.)

...my beloved in the Lord.

...our fellow worker in Christ.

...my beloved.

...the approved in Christ.

...those...who are in the Lord.

...workers in the Lord.

...the beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord.

...a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine.

Paul goes on to warn the church about those who do not embrace the same spirit of fellowship that he is demonstrating in these descriptions of individuals in the body. But I am going to wait to delve into that deeper another time. For right now I want to simmer in the thoughts that these labels bring to my heart and that encourage me to look at others from God's perspective and see the work that He is doing in their lives instead of the mistakes or dysfunction that still plagues them.

I know what tremendous power of encouragement there can be whenever someone honestly relates to me and describes me from God's perspective. At times I struggle with even accepting affirmations, but part of that is when they come from people who do not even know me. But when someone who is well aware of my faults and sins can share with me the truth about my identity as God views me, it can be a source of real strength and hope and inspiration. I want to be one of those sources of hope for other people struggling under false notions about their worth and purpose and identity. I want to be used of God to apply His labels to others so that they can catch a glimmer of warmth from the love that God has for them that has been hidden from their hearts for so long.

Of course, this seems more difficult to do with those whom I know all too well. When I have personal experience with someone's faults or have been attacked and wounded deeply by them I am far more resistant to seeing their value and identity as God sees them. That is where I need much more grace, humility and a spirit of unconditional forgiveness to embrace a radically new perspective on their real identity and to become a source of hope and life to those who expect the very opposite from me. This can only happen through a miracle of God's grace. But then, that is what salvation is all about, isn't it?

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