Ecclesiastes 12:13
Reading this today I was wondering about perspective. This tells us to fear God and keep his commandments, which sounds somewhat more stark than Jesus' answer to a similar question: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" (Matthew 22:37). And yet, aren't the two verses essentially saying the same thing? John 14:15 tells us "If ye love me, keep my commandments," and the honor and respect that "fear" is referring to here is often seen as a way that we can love others. Both verses are teaching a similar idea, even though the perspective and emphasis are different.
God comes first... I think each verse expresses that, but we all think about these principles in a little bit different way, and emphasize certain things that we think are important. Sometimes that leads to arguments, when one person doesn't really care about something someone else thinks is vital, but maybe it shouldn't. We are all learning things in different ways and perhaps even in a different order, because God personalizes that education to each of us. Maybe we've learned something someone else hasn't, but they've also learned something we haven't. We can't really expect everyone to match our strengths and weaknesses. Each person also has something to teach us, and in the end, we're answerable to God, and that is where we are going to get the feedback that matters.
Today, let's take perspective into account, and try to deal more gently with the people around us, who also have unique perspectives. Let's work with God and learn all we can, but not judge people as though they were living our lives. Instead, let's trust that God is doing the same for others that he does for us... teaching us as we go, and see what we can learn when we take perspective into account and listen.
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