Perspectives

Two types of clocks make a good illustration of the way people tend to see things versus the way God sees things. The digital clock tells the hour, minute, and sometimes the second or even fraction of a second in easy-to-read digital format. That’s like the way people often see things in terms of the present only. A clock with hands—what is now commonly called the analog clock—shows the full time cycle, similar to how God sees the whole scope of eternity.

The digital clock is like seeing one tree, whereas the analog clock is like seeing the whole forest. On the digital clock you can’t see the forest for the tree; past and future are obscured by the present. But on the analog clock you can see that tree in relation to all the others; you can see at a glance how long it’s been since any moment in the past, as well as how long it will be till you’re at any moment in the future.

Relying on a digital clock is like driving on a winding road or on a dark road at night; all you can see is what is immediately in front of you. What you have passed is only a memory, and you can’t see the future beyond the next moment. You don’t really see where you’re going. Relying on an analog clock, on the other hand, is like driving with the aid of a map. At any given point, you can not only see where you are, but you can also see your progress, how far you’ve come and how much farther you have to go.

The Bible can be compared to an analog clock. Just as the analog clock gives you a better picture of where your day stands by putting the moment in perspective with time spent and time remaining, the Bible gives you a better perspective on your life by putting it in perspective with the big picture—Creation to eternity.

The analog clock is more complicated than the digital, but it’s also more comprehensive. It takes more time and effort to learn to read an analog than it does to learn to read a digital, but it’s a good investment because the analog tells you so much more. It takes study to understand the Bible. That takes a certain commitment and requires more effort than simply taking each moment as it comes, but it’s a much wiser approach to life.

The apostle Paul said, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” In other words, we have to look beyond the problems that we’re going through today to the long-term goal, the happiness and heavenly rewards that are promised us if we make the right choices and live our lives as God would have us live them.

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Matthew 10:38-39 ESV / And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

1 John 2:28 ESV / And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

2 Samuel 24:12 ESV / “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’”