Jesus First: Seven Practices to Put Your Life Back in Orderნიმუში

Day 3: The Practice of Perspective

Like the lenses in a pair of prescription glasses, your perspective subtly but powerfully shapes how you see everything. Get the lens wrong, and the world becomes blurry, distorted, and disorienting. But get it right, and suddenly everything sharpens into beautiful focus.

The same is true in life and faith. If your perspective is shaped by fear, pressure, comparison, or the relentless pursuit of success, you’ll live exhausted and overwhelmed — always reacting, rarely at peace. But when your life is filtered through the lens of Jesus first, everything begins to come into high-definition clarity. Meaning rises to the surface. Priorities realign. Joy grows deep roots.

Paul understood this. As he wrote to the Philippians, he was under house arrest, chained to a guard, unsure of his future. He could have seen his circumstances through the lens of injustice, disappointment, or fear. But instead, he utters one of the most perspective-shifting statements ever written: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (NIV verse 21)

Paul’s perspective wasn’t shaped by his surroundings but by the depth of his surrender. For him, life wasn’t about personal comfort or reputation — it was about Christ. Jesus wasn’t part of his life’s equation. He was the whole framework.

This kind of clarity doesn’t come by accident. It comes by practice: the daily habit of looking at your whole life through the lens of Jesus’ lordship. It’s about asking: What does it mean to live for Christ here, now — in my mindset, my calendar, my finances, my work, my relationships, even my rest?

When “living is Christ” becomes your lens, everything else either falls into place — or fades away. As Oswald Chambers wrote: “A vision of Christ in all things puts all things in their place.”

A Jesus-first perspective won’t always change your circumstances. But it will always change your experience of them. It will anchor you in a world constantly trying to shake you.

But you must choose it. Practice it. Every day.

So ask yourself: what would truly change if I lived today with this lens —“to live is Christ”?

Practice Prompt: Take inventory. What’s fighting for first place in your life right now — in your work, your relationships, your mind, and your schedule? Choose one area and ask: What would it look like to live for Christ here today? How could I shift my perspective on this? Then take one small action to put Jesus first.

Prayer: Jesus, be my lens today. When fear clouds my thinking or pressure distorts my priorities, refocus my heart on you. Help me to see every part of my life through the perspective of your presence and purposes. Teach me to say with honesty and joy: “To live is Christ and to die is gain”. And may that truth shape everything. Amen.