“Eternal Perspective Safety-Goggles”
are as important to the spiritual hazards of life, as construction goggles are to the flying hazards on a jobsite.
Wearing Safety Goggles on a job site is critical for eye preservation. They protect the tender eyeballs from the hazards of flying sawdust, way-ward nails and boards, or whatever else becomes air born. Safety goggles have saved many retinas from much harm. Since life throws many hazards at us as well, learning to don spiritual safety-goggles while on the spiritual-job-site is a safety requirement enforced by the heavenly OSHA task force.
Eternal Perspective Safety-Goggles protect
us from the spiritual hazards of life. They keep our
focus on where it needs to be—on our Creator and Deliverer.
I believe that Job wore a pair of these goggles when he went through his time of testing. He lost his entire income source, all of his children, and to make matters worse, even his health severely deteriorated. He was miserable! His wife even encouraged him to curse God so that he could die and be finished with the agony. Yet, through all the heartache, pain, and temptation he stayed faithful to the Almighty. Even though he did not understand the “whys” of it all, in the end he always came to this conclusion: “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble? Bless the name of the Lord.”(Job 2:10). Job lamented over his circumstances, but he never stopped blessing God.
He knew that there was a whole lot more going on than what his eyes could see.
He trusted his Creator. He had his eternal perspective safety goggles on which gave him the ability to keep his focus on God, even though spiritual hazards were flying at him left and right.
Like Job’s life, our lives can also throw many obstacles at us—cancer, divorce, rebellious children, broken relationships, evil, temptation–which is why our eternal perspective safety goggles are so important. They protect our focus. They keep our eyes from lingering on our own problems, and instead, enable us to stay focused on God’s eternal big picture. They help us say, “God, I don’t understand this, but I trust that you are in control. I bless your Holy name!”
Building a spiritual temple for God is hard work. It is not for the lazy. Through it all, He wants our focus to always be on Him and on His BIG PICTURE.
So, keep your spiritual goggles on your face. Never take them off, and keep on building!
