Perception

There is an old saw that says that perception is reality. In other words whatever someone thinks is true, is true. The only problem with this is that there are as many perceptions as there are people. But there is only one truth.

So whose perception trumps all others?

Not surprisingly the answer is God’s.

This begs the question then, what does God think? About me, about my family, church, the world, etc. The answer to all those questions is found in the Bible.

I can tell you one thing for certain and that is that God doesn’t see things the same way we do. Especially us. We tend to fall into 2 traps, either we manage to justify our behavior until we think we’re pretty near perfect, or we don’t give ourselves a break and we think God doesn’t either.

The problem lies in our perception of ourselves, but also in our perception of God. At times He does have to take on the role of judge, but that is not what He delights in. In reality He wants to be our Father and He looks at us as His children.

What I’m trying to say although it sounds clichéd almost is that He loves us. He isn’t waiting in heaven for us to make a mistake so he can whack us with a lightning bolt. He is rooting for us. He hurts when we hurt, He wants us to be happy. He wants the very best for us. Sometimes that isn’t what we think is best, but his understanding is way beyond ours.

I have two small children. Sometimes they insist on doing things their way. It takes sooo much longer to do anything! I find myself wanting to snatch whatever it is and say “Here let me do that.” If we are insistent on doing things our own way God will, at times, stand back and let us flounder around. But everything goes smoother if we let Him help. Again we think we know the way to go, the course to pursue. We have a perception of the situation.

But you see the trick in all this perception business is that reality doesn’t exist in the physical world. We can be tricked pretty easily. This is the illusion. Reality rests in the spiritual world. And God is waiting for us to acknowledge His presence in both realms. 

Valiant

Most Christians know that Jeremiah didn’t have a whole lot of good things to promise the Children of Israel. To be honest, he’s kind of known as the doom and gloom guy. I mean he wrote a book called Lamentations. What more proof do you need?

Don’t lose heart. In the midst of the bad news there is a lot to be learned. I have been studying Jeremiah for several weeks and here is just one little gem that I found.

Jeremiah 9:3 starts a long list of awful things that are about to befall the Israelites. One of three reasons he gives is “…they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth…”

As someone interested in words I thought the choice of the word “valiant” was really unusual. Valiant conjures images in my mind of knights riding off to slay dragons, quests, swords and battles. Seemed like a pretty strong word for the context and so I decided to look it up. Enquiring minds want to know!

So the root is from the Hebrew Gabar. It has several meanings

1.     To be strong/mighty, okay this is sort of close to my own mental definition. I can deal with it.

2.     To act proudly, ooh now things are getting interesting. We shouldn’t act as if we are ashamed of truth. We should proclaim it proudly. Why not wear our faith on our sleeves. Why try to blend in with the world. Sometimes we are pretty good at talking truth to one another. It’s where we are comfortable. But do we hold our heads up high when it comes time to defend our convictions out in the world? We ‘re not just supposed to talk truth among ourselves.

3.     To confirm, hmm this one got me thinking. If we insert this instead of valiant, it reads “they did not confirm the truth in the earth”. God is really starting to heat things up! You see He doesn’t just require lip service! He wants our actions, the way we live our lives to confirm what we say with our mouths. I don’t know about you but I started to feel some conviction.

So fellow soldiers for the Lord, how will you wield your sword and show yourself valiant for the truth?

Called to Relationship

Hosea had to have been given one of the toughest assignments in history. This prophet was called by God to marry a prostitute. His mission: to be the loving husband of a faithless wife. In the days before morality plays and reality TV, God was painting a portrait in living flesh through the drama this family suffered.

The whole point is summed up in Hosea 3:? “Quote”

Ishii means “my husband”, while Baali meant “my lord.” God has plenty of creatures to worship Him. Cherubim and Seraphim abound in heaven with the sole purpose of praise and worship 24/7.

He designed us for relationship. I believe He wants to go back to those early days with Adam and Eve when they walked together in the cool of the day. He knows us, and He wants us to seek to know Him. To choose Him above all others as our bridegroom.

His death on the cross was engineered to restore us to a place where, spiritually we could once again be ushered into His presence and the relationship could be restored to its rightful position.

God’s ways and wisdom are so far beyond ours that it is incomprehensible. About the best we can do is recognize the hand of the Lord in retrospect.

One of the coolest things about coming to a relationship and knowing the Lord, not just about Him, is that we are bound to worship Him. How can we not when we realize how truly incredibly, amazingly wonderful He is.