To have a view of our world that matches God's view, we must begin with an understanding of Scripture. When we realize how important it is to God to be known among the nations, knowing more about Him and how to live our lives within His plan will become a priority.

Living in a culture that is so focused on "me" and "mine" makes it difficult to see the world as God sees it. We must make an intentional effort to shift the heavy focus off of ourselves and our needs. We need to remember the priorities that Christ taught when He quoted Deuteronomy 6. We have to love God first with all we have, love others second, and then have a healthy love for ourselves as a part of God's creation.

Once we have studied Scripture and realigned our priorities with God's, a very practical way to develop our view of the world is to develop and feed our curiosity about the world and its people with accurate information and experiences. We need to venture outside our known and comfortable world.

Personal experiences change the way we view the world. As you drive around your city or town, do you see places of worship other than Protestant and Catholic? Are there temples or mosques? Have you ever visited these or contacted someone you know who attends and asked if you could visit? Are there ethnic restaurants, shops, or neighborhoods where you live? Opening our eyes to those around us and developing a curiosity about what they believe and their background will broaden our view of God's world.

Study of Scripture, aligning ourselves with God's priorities to love Him first and others second, and a curiosity about the things that God cares about will help broaden our view of the world. But if we are serious about seeing the world as God sees it, the most important element is to ask God to open our eyes so that we may clearly see the truths He is trying to develop within us.

Excerpt from Live the Call: Embrace God's Design for Your Life by WMU's executive director/treasurer Wanda Lee

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