Perception part 4
I looked up the word "perceived" in the King James version of the Bible, and almost every time it occurred it was about someone perceiving something... let's say... bad. A lot of times it was Jesus perceiving people's selfish thoughts. But then there's this one: "And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision" (Galatians 2:9). Now here's a tiny little bit of back story. The circumcision was Jews who were converting to Christianity. And there was a lot of resistance to this new Way. Those who were circumcised were still having trouble associating with those who weren't. Even to the point of trying to circumcise people. Force their views on people. But what I like about this is--once James, Cephas, and John saw (or perceived) the grace in Paul and Barnabas, they were able to work together. Separately. Because even though they had different views and different audiences, they were clearly on the same side. I think that's important. Because we don't--and probably realistically can't--agree on everything. Having your own point of view is ok. It's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. We can disagree and still fellowship. And if we just plain, straight, can't fellowship? Then we can shrug our shoulders and move on. The point I think I'm trying to make, in my usual wander around and hope it comes together way, is that we can perceive both good things AND bad things. It doesn't always have to be about something negative. In fact, it SHOULD be about the positive much more often that it should be about the negative. If we could stop looking for negative, we would stop finding it so often. I truly believe that you can find what you're looking for. Usually if it's there or not. We create what we're looking for. By putting the energy of our focus into it. So why not use that power to look for, and find, love? Why not perceive the good things in people? Instead of a sin hunt--telling people what's wrong with them--why not go on a righteousness hunt and tell people what's right with them? We had this joke once upon a time where I used to work where this dude would always talk about how his hand could either hurt or heal someone. Depending on how he felt at the time. But there's a lot of truth to that. We can give people the right hand of fellowship, even if we're agreeing to go our separate ways. Not everybody is for everybody. I'm not for everybody. I get that. But that doesn't mean I have to attack those people that I'm not for, either. We can get along, or we can stay away from each other. It's not that hard. But to end this Rant tonight I just want to say it one more time: When you're focusing on your perception, it doesn't always have to be negative. You can perceive positive things. And remember, what you see is what you be. Your perception is what defines your life--whether you perceive the lie of the world or the Word (the truth, Jesus, love) of God!