Perspectives
Bernie has been encouraging me to write a new blog, but I haven’t really had very much inspiration until yesterday. I read the blog of a friend in the same situation, who ended up with a positive pregnancy test (congratulations Kellie) to blog about. So, in a panic, I decided I had better come up with something, inspired or not. I’m going to take the thoughts that have been swirling around in my head and see if I can make some sense of them. The common thread that seems to run throughout them is “Perspective.�
Last Tuesday found Jonathan and I spending the first half of the day in the Korean hospital here in UB. From the day he was born, Jonathan has only seemed to have one gear, and that was full speed ahead. That hasn’t changed, and it is that kind of energy that pleases his P.E. teacher immensely. This past Monday, his shoulder took the brunt of that drive in a game of American football. The result is (we think) a contused muscle, and fortunately not a break (we think). So, after successfully maneuvering through the language barriers of the Mongolian system and a Korean doctor we left with four shoulder x-rays, a donated sling, three days worth of medicine and a receipt for our insurance. The whopping total for all this was $43.34.
In our mind, that is quite the bargain. In the US, that would cover the co-pay and possibly the medicine (generic only). It’s hard to imagine that you can get an x-ray for $10. Where perspective comes in is if you look at this from the point of view of, for instance, our language teacher. Her monthly salary is $100. One x-ray would be 10% of her living expenses for the month. Our entire bill would be almost half of her monthly salary.
Three of the past four Bible studies I have taught the girls in our church have required me to look at things from a different perspective. Take, for instance, the story of Abigail, Nabal and David in 1 Samuel 25. David makes a simple request of Nabal. We took care of your sheep; please share some of your food with us. Nabal refuses and David blows a fuse. He has 400 men take up their swords to go and deal with the man. It seems a bit like overkill, doesn’t it? Why in the world is David acting so irrationally? Well, as I backed up a bit, he had been anointed king but not able to take his throne, killed a giant that had terrified everyone else, been chased across the country and slept in caves, and then just prior to this, his mentor, Samuel dies. When you look at it from that perspective, his irrationality becomes quite understandable.
Previously, in 1 Samuel chapter one, I saw the same lesson. Two women married to one man. Hannah is a beautiful picture of what a godly woman should be. The other wife, Peninnah, seems mean and spiteful. It is easy to pass judgment on her. On the other hand, every woman desires to be loved by her husband. She knew she was his second choice. He had probably married her to produce children. Even the most sweet-tempered woman is going to be strained in that situation. That doesn’t justify her behavior, but it helps us understand it. Perspective.
God seems to be teaching me a little something about perspective when it comes to other people. Being the black and white person that I am, I confess that I tend to rush to judgment. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Period. But judgment without perspective more often than not leads to judgment without compassion. I find myself in good company here. Or at least, company. This was the standard operating procedure of the Pharisees.
An older Southern Baptist preacher, Vance Havner, was a favorite of mine. He had a sermon on this. He would say, “Right in the facts; wrong in the conclusion.� It’s easy to be right and wrong at the same time. That was the Pharisees. They expected Jesus to operate "by the book".
Jesus came in such contrast to them. When they expected Him to agree with their assessments, He surprised them by showing compassion. It is so easy to look at fellow believers and accurately determine how they should behave based on Scripture. What is harder to do is to show compassion when they fail to act according to our expectations. This happens all the time in the church. The Apostle Paul calls us to the task of “bearing with one another with love� (Ephesians 4:2).
It’s not as easy as it sounds. A happily married woman with two children is going to have a different perspective from the 16 year old girl with a baby and no husband. Or the woman who has been married for 20 years and was never able to have children. When they don’t live up to my expectations of what Christian should look like, what then? Do I rush to judgment? Perhaps I can feel sympathy for them. But will I take the time and the energy to step back and consider their perspective and bear with them in love?
Jesus declared of Himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because he anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives. And recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden.� As long as there is a church remaining on this earth, it is our place to continue that mission. The challenge is when some of those people are in our churches. It’s hard and it’s messy and it would be so much easier to write them off (judged and sentenced) than it is to press on with compassion.
When you think about it, the only ones that weren’t recipients of Christ’s compassion were the Pharisees. He had a different perspective. That is the perspective I want to learn to take. Maybe, just maybe, God is working in me to make me less like a Pharisee and more like His Son.
Reader Comments (5)
My Wife is awesome...
I really enjoyed this blog post. I was especially interested in your comments about the medical facilities. Our family plans to move to UB this fall, and a lot of people have asked us about the status of healthcare in Mongolia. I had heard there was a Korean hospital, but I didn't know much about it. Are you pretty satisfied with the quality of care that you receive there? The prices certainly seem to be nice (from an American perspective).
Also, you mentioned your son's PE teacher. Is he enrolled in public school? How is that working out? There is a school right next to our apartment building, but our plans for the moment are to home school.
Chris, if I gave you my full opinion on healthcare here, it would probably scare you (or at least your wife) to death. We have a doctor on a team, and there are sometimes doctors here in the missions community. So, if at all possible, that is the direction I would take. We were relieved it was not a break, because if it had been, we would have attempted to leave the country to have it cared for.
Our organization did not permit homeschooling while in the required 2 year language study. So our children have been in the International School here, but it is a very expensive option. We finish language study this June, so our children will be doing Internet school and participating in a homeschool coop here. If you plan to homeschool, you should definitely check that out.
Where is your apartment located?
This is a great and timely entry, Renee, and I was glad to be a part of it.
I'm going to show this to Damon because his one "beef" with my blog is he thinks I need to be more inspirational and less silly. And now my silliness has inspired someone to be truly inspirational....yay!
I couldn't give you the exact address of our apartment, but it's fairly near Sky Mall. I have heard a bit about a homeschool cooperative, but I don't know much about it. Do you know how I can get more information about it?