Twins grew up with an abusive alcoholic father. One of them became an alcoholic. The other refused to touch drink and maintained a respectable lifestyle.

The two were asked why they turned out the way they did. They both gave the same answer. “With the father I had, how else could I turn out?”

Although they gave the same answer in words, they meant very different things by them. One made it his excuse; the other, his reason.

We are not formed or influenced by our experiences, but by our interpretation of them. It is not what happens to us, but how we frame events in our minds that determines how they will affect us. Perspective is everything.

This is not a new insight. But we are tempted to blame events for what we become.

Scripture provides us the framework for life events and experiences. The Bible gives us a context to fit it all into a big picture.

The mind works within the framework we give it. This is why we must take utmost care to what we expose our minds. Scripture must be a constant feed for our brains.

The great reality is the divine project to redeem and sanctify man for a heavenly habitation. God works to move us forward toward eternity.

The materialistic mindset sees only the visible. The eye of faith knows there is more than can be seen. Invisible forces are at work, pulling toward opposite ends. No matter how peaceful the scenery, the world and the ground we walk on are subject to the fiercest contest of wills and weapons.

If we ignore the battle, we will fall on the field.

Satan will convince us that we can be gods in our own right.

He will slip into our consciousness resentment at the success of the wicked.

His success will be complete when he convinces us that the immoral have all the fun.

He knows he’s won when we believe that this one time won’t hurt anyone.

When we classify other people’s sins as major and ours as venial, it leaves him laughing all the way to hell.

God has given us a history to work with. Failures and successes, both, provide us with powerful frames for our own walk.

* A couple who saw desirable fruit and thought they could be gods. * A man who rushes into the sanctuary of God to understand the destiny of the wicked. * A king lounging on the rooftop when he should have been leading his army during the season for war. * A people marching in circles in the desert and getting nowhere as they rant and rave about their menu. * A suspicious ruler who mistakes good will for an evil plot and loses it all.

Scripture is perspective, and it is more. It is power to save and transform. It is revelation to draw the ponderer near to its author. It is the mind of God enveloping the willing into his sphere of influence of love and goodness. It is the spiritual ark of the covenant where divine glory is witnessed and from which a mission of shining lights is launched.

We can never overemphasize the need for the Word of God. For when we come to know the heavenly Father, we will be like him, for how else could we turn out?

“So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls” James 1.21 NLT.

–J. Randal Matheny