Spiritual Perspective

I took the photo above yesterday afternoon. I’m in New York City for Personal Encounter session of ministry. To adjust to the three-hour jet lag, I flew in a day early. With an afternoon to spare, I did something I’ve never done before in all my years, and many times, of coming to New York. I took one of those open-air, tourist bus rides I’ve always disdained. It was a beautiful afternoon, and I have to admit that I actually enjoyed the tour. I’ve seen all of New York many times but never Uptown and Downtown Manhattan, all at once, in one two-hour stretch. As we were making our way toward The Battery area, I looked over my shoulder and took an impromptu photo of the Empire State Building behind me. It was later, when I looked at my picture, that I realized I had also captured St. Paul’s Chapel in the foreground. This historic place of worship was completed in 1766. George Washington worshipped here on his Inauguration Day. In the hours after the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, it was miraculously unharmed and served as a place of refuge for recovery workers, police, and counselors. It survived without as much as a broken window. Debris hit a tree on the northwest corner of the property and spared any significant damage.

But notice something else about this unplanned photo. The apex of the Chapel seems to rise above the 1,454 feet of the Empire State Building, an edifice more than 50 times taller. This photo represents not reality but perspective. It seems to say that no matter how important the commerce of the city might be, the significance of spirituality looms larger. In truth, that’s the way it should. The lesson in life is that no matter what problems may seem to tower over us, if we look at them properly we’ll see the perspective of God’s view of our life and needs. The old song “Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus” puts it this way: “The things of Earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”