08.20.06 Bulletin Article -- Seeing the Bigger Picture, Spiritually Speaking

Don’t we all like to see the “big picture” in various areas of our lives? We feel left out if we think people more know more about a situation than we do. We ask questions to be able to make sense of some things. Bottom line, we’re curious. Most of the time we come by it honest. We simply want to know more.

Sometimes, we think we see the big picture when we’ve really only seen parts of the picture and made false assumptions based on those parts. Notice this story from an e-mail I got the other day. It’s written from an unnamed source’s perspective. It brilliantly illustrates said principle:
“I was flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles. By the time we took off, there had been a 45-minute delay and everybody on board was restless. Unexpectedly, we stopped in Sacramento on the way. The flight attendant explained that there would be another 45-minute delay, and if we wanted to get off the aircraft, we would reboard in 30 minutes.Everybody got off the plane except one gentleman who was blind. I noticed him as I walked by and could tell he had flown before because his Seeing Eye dog lay quietly underneath the seats in front of him throughout theentire flight. I could also tell he had flown this very flight beforebecause the pilot approached him and, calling him by name, said, "Keith, we're in Sacramento for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?"

Keith replied, "No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs."Picture this...all the people in the gate area came to a completely quiet standstill when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with the seeing eye dog! The pilot was even wearing sunglasses.People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, they also were trying to change airlines!”See, the man’s perspective allowed him to see the big picture: that the pilot was simply helping out the blind passenger walk his dog. Those outside the plane didn’t have all of the information to come to a full knowledge of the truth of the situation.

Spiritually, we need to do all we can to find the “big picture.” Just because we think something is a certain way spiritually doesn’t mean it always is. Just because we’ve always been taught something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true.

We need to heed the words of the Hebrew writer from Heb. 5:12-14. All of us can spiritually handle the milk...or the basics. Now we need to move on to some meat...or “big pictures.”

Let’s seize every opportunity to learn more about our marvelous God!