How often do you see the world from God’s perspective?  We can become so inundated with the minutia of life that we can miss what is significant from God’s perspective.   The disciples also had this problem at times.  Jesus admonished them,

Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.  (John 4:35)

What do we see from this verse?   Jesus emphasized that the harvest is already here.  It may easy to put things off and wait but the reality is now is the time for action.  One of Satan’s strategies is to get Christians to put off what is important – he doesn’t necessarily deny the good – he just makes you procrastinate.

C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters reveals insights into Satan’s strategy.  Imagine the following dialogue as a group of demons are deciding how to put a stop to the spread of Christianity.

“We’ll make them think there’s no such thing as God!” one suggested.

Satan disagreed, “No. They think we’re real. They’ll think He’s real. Besides, they want Him to be real. They need Him to get them through the hard times.”

Another suggested, “Just make them think He’s an impersonal God. Like He’s an energy force or something.”

“No, they want Him to be personal. If He wasn’t they’d make it up.”

“What about showing everyone else that all His people are hypocrites?” another suggested.

That one almost passed until Satan found the apparent flaw. “No, sooner or later the hypocrisy is revealed for what it is. That wouldn’t last too long.”

Finally, from the corner of the room, a small whisper came. It was one of the younger demons. Hesitantly, he suggested, “You’ve missed our most effective strategy . . .  Just tell them they have all the time in the world to decide. Tell them it’s not that important. Tell them to wait another day . . . ”

Mark Twain said, “Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow.”  We can be like the person who said, “My parents told me I’d never amount to anything because I procrastinated too much. I told them, ‘Just you wait’.”

Notice the verbs in John 4:35.  Jesus said lift up your eyes and look on the fields.  Sometimes we become so involved in our world that we need to lift up our eyes and see the world not as we think it is but as it really is.  The word look connotes the idea to behold, view attentively, or contemplate.   

You must realize that good can bethe enemy of best.  What is God calling you to lift up your eyes and see?

Associate Pastor – Discipleship.  The Church at LifePark

Professor of Discipleship, Columbia International University

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