Perspective

So I'm riding the new DART train as I write. Let me say, I don't care if it takes me twice as long to get to work. It's cheaper, I can multitask, and I get a fresh perspective on the city that I haven't seen growing up. I have always gone down the highway keeping up with the fast paced traffic and have never looked outside and seen what I'm driving by. I consider this a good thing, lest I get in an accident. But I have also missed seeing the hurting and broken people. I've been caught up on getting where I need to go and getting there as fast as possible. Taking the train forces you to slow down and watch people who get on and off. Some are happy. Some are sad. Some you can see are searching for hope. Some have given up on it. It's true when my pastor said a few weeks ago that Dallas isn't really a "churched" area. They've gotten just enough of the disease of Christ to get prevent from getting the whole thing. 

This morning, Romans 8 was my daily reading. It's one of my favorite chapters of the Bible. When you read it in context of the whole book, it's where Paul changes the game with his argument. The first half of the book talks about the law, and righteousness, about how we can't obtain it on our own. But in Chapter 8 he talks about how when Jesus came, it changed everything! Two verses jumped out at me this morning:

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." (Romans 8:5, 6 ESV)

Those who set their mind on the Spirit have life AND peace! Many times in my life, I feel like life causes me to not have peace. I feel like I can't have both at the same time, that they are mutually exclusive. But this passage says that's the way of thinking where your mind is set on the flesh. If I had my mind set on the Spirit, I'd realize that my life is crazy because God is doing a work through me. THAT thought brings me peace! God designed it for us to have life to the fullest and peace to the fullest at the same time. 

And that's some new perspective for me.