Three P's part 2
Perception, Perspective, Priority. What you see, how you see it, and what you do with it. These three things define our reality. And it is only when these three things line up correctly--with Jesus, who IS the Way, the Truth, and the Life--that we can begin to manifest the Kingdom of God (righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost) that is within us. To me, this is a practical way of getting what's already in us to come out. So today let's look at perception. And I think I kind of indirectly preach and Rant about this a lot. "What you see is what you be." Seeing things as they really are, instead of judging them by appearance. Because things aren't always what they seem. Remember when we talked about understanding? Not just WHAT someone does, but WHY they do what they do. And here's the key: You can't see clearly unless the light is shining. Now let me link two verses together because I want to make this as plain and as simple as I can: 1 John 1:5 (NLT), "This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all." God is light. We can't see clearly unless we see things in Him and as Him. 1 John 4:8 (NLT), "But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love." God is light. And God is love. Light is love, and love is light. We see things clearly when the light shines. When LOVE shines. We see things clearly when we look through the eyes of grace--the eyes of love. And listen, I'm not talking about rose-colored glasses that make everything look nice. I'm not talking about appearance at all. I'm talking about LOVE-colored glasses that see things as they really are. That see "good, bad, and ugly" and realize there is something higher. Seeing God's love for us in everything and everybody. Seeing the bigger picture. Seeing the more excellent way. I don't know why we do this, but we always seem to see the worst in people. We take things personally, even when they have nothing to do with us. We look for reasons to get upset about things and make mountains out of molehills. And it probably comes from a desire to protect ourselves. We've been burned before and don't want to get burned again. We assume people are out to burn us. So we see villains in every shadow. We can't believe someone would (or could) do that to us. When in fact the person who "slighted us" probably doesn't even have us on their radar. I think it's a rare thing for someone to think about someone else in ANY context. Much less during their decision making process. I think, for the most part, we do things and then justify them later on. I think people do things in order to get love. (Or do things because they HAVE love, but that's much more rare.) So what people do has more to do with themselves than it does with us. So we need to see things as they really are, instead of making things into something they're not. We need to find the love in every situation. It's there. HE'S there. Jesus promised to never leave nor forsake us. He's always there. Sometimes it's just too dark to see Him. Until we realize that He is light, and there is no darkness at all in Him. Untill we realize that when the light shines, the darkness flees. It's not even a battle, or a struggle. The light wins. The light WON. LOVE won! Perception is what you see. Seeing things as they really are. Seeing things as part of the bigger picture. The grand scheme. God's great plan!