What causes people’s lives to fall apart when it seems like they had it all together?

Obviously, there a million reasons why people have affairs, leave their faith, or abandon their families.

But regardless of the trigger, the root cause can always be traced back to something pretty simple: they lose perspective.

Perspective is the ability to see an entire picture of what’s important and what’s not.

When we lose perspective, our affection, time, energy, and resources start going to things they have no business going to.

When that happens, we’re placing the heaviest weight of our lives (affections, belonging, etc.) on something that’s not foundationally secure.

If work, for example, is not a foundational aspect in your understand of life, then placing inappropriate weight on your work will eventually cause internal friction.

This internal friction is what psychologists call cognitive dissonance.

Your mind knows what is supposed to be important (from your upbringing, your beliefs, your sense of social belonging, etc.) yet you’re not acting in accordance with that.

Cognitive dissonance can cause a person to embrace actions that go against their character in an attempt to justify conflicting beliefs about themselves.

When your perspective slips, you stop seeing the full picture, and you start focusing on things that altar your beliefs.

When your beliefs start to drift, you experience cognitive dissonance (i.e., “why am I thinking like this?”)

If you linger in that cognitive dissonance, you’ll eventually act in accordance with your beliefs to alleviate the internal friction.

And it’s all traced back to losing perspective.

So if you want to keep your life on track, guard your perspective like your life depends on it.

But here’s the thing: perspective isn’t lost all at once. It’s a slow drift over time.

So how can you keep your perspective in check?

It’s simple, just not easy.

According to Scripture:

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-2)

To “meditate” means to allow your inner dialogue to be saturated with Scripture.

Which means you have to both sit with it and make room for it to sink in.

But here’s the problem:

• When you focus on work more than God, you’re in trouble.
• When you focus on family more than God, you’re in trouble.
• When you focus on anything more than God, you’re in trouble.
• When busyness keeps you focused on everything except God, you’re in trouble.

These things pull at your heart and shift your perspective.

We’ve come to a place where we do not tolerate “unproductive” time. And it’s led to our perspective being shifted to anything other than God.

There’s a reason God said, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

Because you have to be still to know.

“Knowing” is perspective. Being still requires rejecting the demands to zoom into the micro-idols all around us.

Where your investment goes is where your security is.

So guard your heart by guarding your investment – your time, energy, focus, and affection.

And slow down enough for your heart to come back to a true perspective.

And, in the words of Jesus, “If you hold to my teaching [the Greek word means to abide, dwell, or stay with it for a long period of time], you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”