Possibly the main reason why so many who claim to be born-again Christians do not have a biblical worldview is because they have fallen prey to what Paul warned about in Colossians 2:8:

     There is a popular saying that “you are what you eat.” This is not true in the natural. If you only eat tomatoes, you will never become a tomato. Spiritually, however, this statement is true. If we are spending more time absorbing the perspectives of the media and other earthly sources than we do seeking God’s perspective, we will be skewed in our vision as well as in our hearts.

     There is also a popular saying that “one can be so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good.” But in truth, we can be so earthly-minded that we are neither good for heaven or earth. Our goal must be to get heaven’s perspective of the earth, and thereby help bring heaven to earth.

     Whether we see accurately is not determined by what we are looking at, but rather from the perspective with which we are viewing it. Are we looking from God’s perspective or man’s? In one of the most shocking rebukes in Scripture, the Apostle Peter was called “Satan” by the Son of God. Why? We’re told in Matthew 16:23, when Jesus says to him:

     The Lord also said that one of the last things we would ever want to be is a stumbling block to even the least of His little ones, yet here Peter is being a stumbling block to the Son of God by not setting his mind on God’s interests, but man’s. What is our mind set on—the interests of God or men? This is a most basic and crucial issue if we are going to perceive the truth and walk in it. Otherwise, we will end up stumbling, and even worse, become a stumbling block to others.

     What do we do to gain the heavenly perspective and be able to distinguish it from the human, earthly perspective? As the Lord taught, where our treasure is there will our hearts be (see Matthew 6:21). If “the eyes of our hearts,” or our spiritual eyes, are going to be opened as Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:18, so that we see from a kingdom perspective, then our hearts must be in the kingdom more than the things on this earth.

     The first mention of God’s house in the Bible is in Genesis 28 when Jacob dreams of a ladder that reaches into heaven, and he sees the angels, or messengers, of God ascending and descending upon it. His response in verse 17 is: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” That is exactly what God’s house is supposed to be—“the gate of heaven.” It is supposed to be where God’s people, His messengers, are able to ascend into heaven and return to the earth with evidence of heaven’s reality, and by this, begin to bring heaven to the earth. God’s house is His church.

     Is our church known as a “gate of heaven”? Would those who experience our church cry out, “How awesome is this place”? Probably few churches would qualify for this now, but many are in progress and will become such a place. When the church becomes what it is called to be, everyone who encounters it will cry out as Jacob did, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than . . . the gate of heaven,” and it will be.

     If we look at the church now and only see how far it is from what it is called to be, we are seeing from an earthly perspective. The Lord does not just see us as we are, but He sees us as we are called to be. That is why, when He looked down upon fallen mankind and the mess that we had made on the earth, He did not reject us, but He came to us, laying down His life so that we could become what we are called to be. Those who have His heart and His perspective likewise do not see the church, or the world, as they are now, but what they are called to be. Like their Master, they go to those who need help changing, laying down their lives for them. That is the basic heart of the gospel and those who have a true heart will preach the true gospel of the kingdom.

     What do we do? First, if we have had a negative attitude toward the church, we must repent. The church is His bride. The true friends of the Bridegroom are not the ones who just stand to the side and criticize His bride, but are willing to lay down their own lives to help her become all that she is called to be, which our King so deserves.