Theology of Perspective

Good views compel us. Whether the scene is a city, a landscape, an ocean, the sky - we are always moved when our vision transitions from a position of constraint to a magnificent overview. Seeing the big picture is always aesthetically pleasing. I am amazed when I go west on the Max past the Rose Quarter with a constrained vision in the city, and come out into the open moving across the bridge over the Willamette. Suddenly the vision of the city is magnificent. Our hearts are captured by such views.

Similarly, we must work through all the smaller parts of a good story, or movie, novel, play, etc., until we finally grasp the big picture of the work and can appreciate it as a whole. There is a direct parallel between this and coming out of the trees to see the forest.

This is to help us understand that while we work through this life with constrained vision, God is an author writing one story. Every time we move outside of the trees and see the forest, every time we reach the goal of a hike and see the view, every time the Max comes out of the city onto the bridge over the Willamette, every time we reach the spot on SR 14 with that view of the gorge - all these are pictures of the time when the sons and daughters of God will reach a standpoint to view all of Creation and History perfectly and see the big picture, the final piece of art which God the Father is working to display the Glory and Beauty of his Son Jesus Christ. I believe that God the Father designed the concept of big picture perspective to be aesthetically pleasing to human beings and capture our hearts so that we would have an idea of what it will be like when we finally see the big picture of the entire cosmos.