091: Perspectives

Hello and welcome to The Hope Podcast. I’m Aneel Aranha. Today we are going to talk about how we are stuck in a situation, we should get another perspective. 

Have you ever tried to solve a puzzle, like Rubik's Cube perhaps, and got frustrated that you couldn't work it out? Situations in life can sometimes get like that. We keep trying to fix a problem—personal or work-related—for days, if not weeks and get nowhere closer to fixing the problem than when we started. The problem might be perspective. We sometimes develop tunnel vision when we are too close to a problem. So what's the solution? Step back. 

When we step back, the angle of vision increases, letting us see the bigger picture. The broader the perspective, the more likely we will find a solution. Hold a finger close to your nose and look at it. Then move it away and look at it again. Get the point? 

Another way of obtaining a different perspective is involving another person. Not only will "a fresh pair of eyes" help us to look at the problem from another point of view, but they also prove very useful in spotting mistakes or faulty thinking. I write a lot, and I'm experienced enough to spot most grammatical errors and flaws in logic in my text. Yet, I run everything I write by someone else before I publish it, and I find myself astonished to see how often I have overlooked something critical 

The only problem in seeking someone's help is that pride can get in the way. We don't like to ask for assistance! (This is why so many men got lost on the road in the days before Google Maps!) But this is a foolish attitude, and Scripture doesn't hold back when it says that "the way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice" (Proverbs 12:15). 

The best person to seek advice from is, of course, God. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of counsel (see Isaiah 11:2). This isn't the ability to counsel others; it is the grace to receive counsel from God. God, of course, counsels us in many ways; one of them is through people. Consequently, it wouldn't hurt us to ask some of the wiser people we know for advice when we are stuck in a situation that we cannot resolve. 

We must be careful not to accept another person's advice without question. Regardless of how wise (or holy) the person advising us is, the responsibility for the decisions we make rests on us. The apostle Paul rejected the advice of his friends and churchmen on at least two occasions (see Acts 21 and 22) because he discerned they weren't right. He didn't let this stop him from seeking counsel, however. And we shouldn't let it stop us either.

May the Spirit be with you.