Press the arrow to listen to Nichole Nordeman sing “I Am” while reading today’s devotion on perspective.

Scripture
Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.

Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. John 21:6-7

Observation
Perspective is not for the nearsighted. How well I know that! I have middle-aged eyes, so I use glasses. I wouldn’t need them if my arms would only grow longer!

Distance is what gives perspective. A wide panaroma takes in more information than we can see up close. Peter was in the boat. He saw water. Jesus was on the shore. He saw patterns in the waves. The Master could see the fish under the waves.

Without distance and perspective we waste our time. Peter fished all night and caught nothing. Jesus stood on the shore without a boat or net, spoke one sentence and pow! the boat was overloaded. It is not so much that we need to get out of the boat to see the pattern in the waves. It is rather, that we need Jesus’ point of view on our lives. This is what prayer is all about. Prayer is not so much persuading heaven as it is seeing things from God’s perspective. There are fish if we just ask which way to turn.

Application
It is interesting that the man who had fished all night left the boat as soon as the fish came. It proves what mattered to him most was not fish but Jesus. To get perspective, we must have a greater desire than just having more. If we want the Lord alone, then we will get more than we have asked for. If we just want fish, we can stay in the boat. I need Jesus more than anything else.

Prayer
Father, help me to see my life from heaven’s point of view. Help me to put the net out where it really belongs. Amen.