Monday afternoon, I took a look at my street from a new and fresh perspective. I was on the roof of my garage cleaning out my gutters, so I (carefully) climbed to the crest of the roof to see what it was like to stand on the crest of the roof. Though only a few feet higher than I would have been if I looked out of my bedroom window, I was surprised at how a minor adjustment in elevation resulted in a very different perception of the yard and street below. The mailbox looked shorter, the car smaller, the neighbor’s yard farther away.

It’s not that I’ve never looked at my street before, but this was a subtly different angle on such a familiar scene. Maybe you’ve noticed the same thing if you’ve ever climbed a ladder to change a lightbulb, moved to a new seat in class, or played with a younger sibling on the floor.

It occurs to me that sometimes we need to view familiar scenery from a new and fresh perspective. This is particularly true of spiritual truths. It is easy for us to become overly familiar with a few pet verses, with certain books of the Bible, or favorite terminology for describing salvation. We need to be alert as we read God’s Word and other books to new and fresh ways of describing salvation, new and fresh aspects of Christ’s redemptive work, and new and fresh insights into our own hearts.

Here are two examples of new and fresh perspectives, first a description of salvation from the prophet Hosea, and then thanksgiving for salvation from The Valley of Vision:

I will heal their apostasy;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Hosea 14:4-7

All praise to thee for electing me to salvation
by foreknowledge of God the Father,
through sanctification of the Spirit,
unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus;
I adore the wonders of the condescending love,
marvel at the true believer’s high privilege
within whom all heaven comes to dwell,
abiding in God and God in him;
I believe it, help me to experience it to the full…

Continue to teach me that Christ’s righteousness
satisfies justice and evidences of thy love;
Help me to make use of it by faith of the ground of my peace
and of they favour and acceptance
so that I may live always near the cross.
From “Election”, Valley of Vision, 88.

Where have you seen a new and fresh perspective of God’s redemption in Christ recently?

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