Perspective part 1
What we see is defined by how we see it. Our perspective defines our reality. Because what you see is what you get. Seeing is believing. All that stuff. So here's my point for this Rant series: Saul thought he was doing God's work by persecuting Christians. It wasn't until he was knocked off his donkey and blinded by the light--basically he was totally and completely reset, even to the point of receiving a new name (nature)--that he was able to see what was what. And look at Acts 9:17-18 because this is powerful. "And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there feel from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized." My focus is the scales, and that part's gonna be cool in a minute. But did you guys know that "Ananias" means grace? Grace entered the house and everything changed. Dark became light. Blind could see. That's what grace does. Grace isn't freedom TO sin, grace is freedom FROM sin. Because when we see better, you know better. And when you know better, you do better. What you do flows from what you believe. What you know. Again--seeing is believing. What you see is what you be. "Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). We see Him and we be Him. Because we live in Him and He lives in us. There is no separation. No difference. Jesus said, "I am my Father are one." 1 John 4:17 says, "...as he is, so are we in this world." Jesus is our true identity. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. So when we see Him as He is, we be Him as He is. Because as He is, so are we in this world. What gets us in trouble is the scales on our eyes. Look at Job 41:15, "His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal." Get it? Saul thought he was a man with a plan. He was getting after it. Doing God's work. But he had scales on his eyes. He was blinded by his pride. And the Holy Spirit--that came with the sound of a great rushing wind--couldn't fill him because he was shut up with a close seal. It's like when we "guard" our hearts by shutting them down instead of actually guarding them by keeping them open. Open to love. God fills us to overflowing with His love and it comes out of us naturally. We see that love, be that love, and share that love. But it's all about perspective. Not looking AT people, and judging them by what they do, but looking INTO people, seeing the heart, and letting them be who they are. The Holy Spirit is our love receptor. Without that wind stirring up what's inside of us it can lay dormant. Kind of like, "If you don't use it, you lose it." What's inside wants to come out. I believe we are bursting at the seams with love. But if we don't know it's in there--if we can't see it because of foolish pride--then it doesn't do us much good. We keep trying (in our own strength) to be someone we're not... because we can't see who we really are. Our perspective is screwed up. But grace is the remedy. Grace sets us free. More on that tomorrow!