What Do You See?

Have you ever noticed how selective we can be with what we see?

For example, you are reading this blog on a computer screen or a phone.  You are reading these words right now. 

But try this. 

Stop reading, but keep you eyes looking at the page.  Then just become aware of everything else that is around these printed words.  The edge of your phone or computer screen, your hand, everything in your field of vision.

Now take a moment to listen, what noises were there the whole time?  Cars going by, humming from a refrigerator, radio in the back ground...

All these things were there, but your brain can only take in so much stimulus.  So we focus only on what we want or need to see at the moment.  Everything else gets ignored or filtered out by our brain.

Reading Matthew 14:25 -31 (NIV) today

"Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.  When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

 "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

 "Come," he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

So let me ask you a few questions.  According to the scripture,

1. Where was Peter looking when he walked on water?

2. Where was Peter looking when he started to sink?

3. Where are you looking when you feel confident in the Lord?

4. Where are you looking when you feel alone and confused?

So what did Jesus ask Peter?

Is he asking you and I the same question?

Flexible?

Recently I was at my Taekwondo school, waiting for my class to begin.

While I was watching the class in progress, a little boy came up to me and showed me how he could do a full split.  He smiled at his accomplishment, being five years old or so this pretty much came natural to him.

Then he asked me if I could do a split like that.

I laughed and said that I could not go down as far as he could, I lacked the flexibility.  He didn't seem to understand this concept.  He simply said, "I'll show you how" and then proceeded to effortlessly do the split again.

I told him that I was working, a little each day, to become more flexible and at this point he kinda shrugged his shoulders and went on to another topic.

When we are young, our bodies are incredibly flexible.  It isn't until we get older that we begin to lose this.  Practicing a martial art at my age only shows me just how much flexibility I have lost over the years.

But children are more than just physically flexible, they are also willing to learn and accept things without any preconceived notions. 

"He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them.  And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:2-4 (NIV)

How flexible are you?

Unity

If you were getting together with the people you loved, and you knew that it would be the last time you saw them, what you said and did would be well thought out and significant.

Jesus, during his last night on earth, had a lot to say to his disciples.  But he also prayed for you and I.

 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,  that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—  I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:20-23

It is possible the Lord looked toward the times we have today and saw how much division there is in the body of Christ. 

Do our actions and attitudes work with or against this prayer?  Are we one as he and our Father were one?

One Church

Years ago, I worked at a furniture store that sold, among other things, reclining chairs.

Since my job back then was to move these chairs around the showroom floor, I got very familiar with just how many there were.  The choices were endless, and that was intentional.  A customer could go in and find just the right chair, with just the right features.  They could even special order the fabric if they didn't like what they saw on the floor.

Churches can be the same way.  Don't like the music or building at one church, go down the street until you find just the right one for you.

Unfortunately, in doing so we have created so many churches that it's easy to forget there is really only one.

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;  one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." Ephesians 4:4-6N (NIV)

By all means, go where you feel comfortable, but let's never forget we are all members of one church, the Body of Christ.

Neglect

Today while riding our motorcycles, my wife and I passed by an abandon home on the side of the road.  One of many we see as we explore the back roads of North Carolina.

A good thirty percent or more of the home was covered with nature  reclaiming the lot.   Grass and bushes grew unchecked while vines covered the sides.

I always wonder what happened when I see these places.  Someone had to have lived there once.  Someone called this home.  Then one day the last family or person left and the house fell to neglect.

Or perhaps it fell to neglect long before it was abandoned?  That can happen as well.

The same can be said for our spiritual lives.  What we focus our minds and attention on can have a lot to do with the state of our "house" over the years.

Our spiritual life must be fed and nurtured with spiritual things, it can survive on nothing else.  And the harmful weeds need to be kept in check...

"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,  now that you have tasted that the Lord is good." 1 Peter 2:2-3(NIV)

Changing Times

I went to the post office the other day to mail a package.

The young lady at the counter asked me the usual questions, and then I told her I was mailing a "LP" and wanted to know if it qualified for the media rate.

"LP? What's that?" she asked with a straight face. 

"A record"

"I don't know what that is," she said.

I then I realized I needed to use the new hip term, "A vinyl," I said, while motioning with my finger a record spinning and imitating one of those old phonographs in my best Beatles, "we're so sorry, uncle Albert" imitation.

"Oh, " she said.  I think at last she understood and I got the media rate.

I thanked her with a smile, for making  me feel old.

Times change, I realized, every day objects from my past disappear from the vocabulary of the current generation.

But one thing that never changes is the truth of God's word.  Even a quick walk through the book of Proverbs will seem as relevant today as it did thousands of years ago when it was written.

And for that, I'm thankful! 

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)

Proverbs

There are two proverbs I feel go hand in hand.  Normally I'm not that great at remembering exact verse numbers, but these two I do. 

Proverbs 15:14 and Proverbs 14:!5

"A wise person is hungry for knowledge,

    while the fool feeds on trash."  Proverbs 15:14 (NLT)

and 

"Only simpletons believe everything they're told!

    The prudent carefully consider their steps."  Proverbs 14:15 (NLT)

We live in a time when we are constantly exposed to both truth and lies.  Combine this with our fast food, quick results hungry culture and we end up with a society that does not take the time to  seek knowledge or give thoughts to what we do.

We don't want to do the work it takes to arrive at the truth, to really learn.

Yet the book of Proverbs spells the problem and the solution out so simply.  If you want to be wise, be hungry for knowledge and consider your steps.  Only a fool feeds on trash and believes everything they are told.

How will you choose to live?