T WAS LATE AT NIGHT, BUT SANDY KNEW the road well. She had lived all of her 24 years in the area, and she took this road to work every day. The curve ahead was a familiar one. As she came around the bend, a car was coming toward her on her side of the road.

Her car swerved off the road and rumbled over the rough shoulder. There was no time for another correction. A heavy wooden telephone pole met her car right in the center, and the front end crumpled and crushed like paper. The engine and steering column were torn from their mountings and driven violently back into the front seat. The windshield shattered, and pieces of glass showered over everything. Then it was over.

The next morning I flicked on the car radio to pick up the day's news. The announcer told of a terrible accident that had occurred the previous evening. A young woman, Sandy Christman, had been killed.

Sandy Christman? Could it be the same Sandy Christman who had attended my Bible study group a few months earlier? It was. How temporary, I thought, how fleeting, how uncertain, are the days of this life. Sometimes the future can be sealed forever. To my knowledge, Sandy never allowed God to give her a new perspective on life. She attended the Bible studies a few times and then dropped out.

Different Perspectives
Years ago, in my younger days, I attended an art school. One of the courses we were given was on perspective drawing. That is drawing in such a way that what we put down on paper looks correct from a given point of view and not distorted.

Our perspective changes as our position changes in relation to it. A person sitting on the left side of the church views the rostrum in front from a certain perspective. One sitting on the right side will view the same rostrum from another perspective. It is possible that someone sitting on the platform could be seen by those on the left side of the church and be completely hidden from those on the right side.

We also use the term perspective in a figurative sense. A young person's perspective, their viewpoint on life, is very different from that of those who are older. When we are young, we look forward to a career. We plan for training and education that will enable us to fill some interesting and financially rewarding positions in life.

As that becomes an accomplishment we look for a compatible mate with whom we can share our days. (This is the ideal order of things. Some, through anxiousness or impatience, get things out of order.) We anticipate having our own home, children, and all of the things that seem to make life a satisfying experience.

As children become part of our lives we see the importance of being involved in things beneficial to their development: schools, Pathfinders, hiking, camping. As we move toward the middle years our perspective changes again. One day we realize that the thought of starting over again with babies, and the attending years of responsibility, has lost its appeal. As we enter the senior years the desire for many things that drew our attention when we were younger is lost. Our idea of roughing it may be a hotel, a TV, and someone to make the bed.

Non-Christians Live for the Here and Now
People who do not know the Lord have a totally different perspective on life than do those who are truly Christian. The non-Christian views everything as being accomplished and rewarded in this life. Eternity does not enter into their reckoning. Their hope and goal is to acquire enough money—and perhaps power—to satisfy their desires: an impressive home, an expensive automobile, pricey vacations. They live only for the here and now.

Thirty-five years ago I worked with a most amiable man who was not a Christian. Bob was then in his middle 30s. Several times I spoke to him about the Lord and eternity. He summed up his response one day by saying, "Whatever the hereafter may be, it is the here and now that counts." My reply to him was "Whatever the here and now may be, it is the hereafter that counts." His perspective on life was completely different from mine.

Over the years I lost touch with Bob. Then recently I ran into a mutual acquaintance, and I was shocked to learn from them that Bob had died. I called Bob's wife, and yes, it was true. One day, completely unexpectedly, his heart had just stopped beating. Bob was dead.

For the moment Bob has no conscious perspective, but the time is coming when his perspective will be totally different than it was when I knew him. Whether he is inside the Holy City or outside, his viewpoint on life will then be changed. No matter how indifferent to the future life a person may be now, there will be no indifference among the lost who surround the New Jerusalem. They will see before them eternal life—the glorified redeemed destined to live forever—and realize that because of their own resistance and rejection they can have no part of it.

Our Focus
Our perspective on life is an indicator of our attitude toward God and our position relative to the eternity to come. Are we looking at it as one who is a Christian or a non-Christian? Is our thinking virtually all on satisfying our desires for this life, or do we want to put our God-given talents to work? It's fine to desire a husband or wife, home and family. God has designed this. But the question is. What has the priority in our thinking? Is our attention focused so completely on this present life that we give little or no thought to that which is to come? If we are truly Christian, then no matter what our occupations, service to God and the advancement of His kingdom will be primary in our thinking.

But suppose it is not. We know it should be, but we can't seem to change our attitude. What can we do? Wonder of wonders: God has promised to do it for us—if we will let Him.

"You are not able, of yourself, to bring your purposes and desires and inclinations into submission to the will of God; but if you are 'willing to be made willing,' God will accomplish the work for you, even 'casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.'¹

The secret to living the spiritual life is to be found in feeding the spiritual nature. This takes nutrition from a special kind of bread—bread that heaven has sent to us for just this purpose. Jesus said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (John 6:51).

In the spoken word of God there is more than sound; there is power to bring into existence that which God designs. The creation of the world and all things in this universe were brought about by the creative power of His word. "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. . . . For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Ps. 33:6-9).That same word has the power to re-create us into new beings with new purposes, new desires, and new inclinations. But we must feed on the bread that God has provided. There is no other way. We must take some time to feed on it daily.

In order to live physically, we must eat the food that will nourish us physically: fruits, grains, and vegetables. It does not matter how busy we are or how pressing are our obligations. If we do not eat, we will starve; and if we keep it up long enough, we will die.

So it is with the spiritual. To live spiritually, we must feed on the spiritual bread that God has made possible for us. And we must find some time every day to eat of it. If we do not—and it matters not how good our excuse is—we will starve and die spiritually. Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:53, 54).

"To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him as a personal Savior, believing that He forgives our sins, and that we are complete in Him."² Even to do this, God will help us. If we ask Him to help us to find time, He will do it. "Whatever you ask in My name," Jesus said, "I will do" (John 14:13).

There are curves in the road ahead for each one of us. What awaits us around the next bend, we don't know. There is One, however, whose perspective enables Him to know exactly what will confront us and how we are to negotiate each obstacle. If we will but allow Him, He is more than willing to share that perspective with us.

*Scripture references in this article are from the New King James Version.
¹ E. G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 142.
² White, The Desire of Ages, p. 389.

_________________________
Joseph W. Sharp is semi-retired and living in Laurel, Maryland. He is doing some artwork and serving as a part-time driver for the General Conference.