“Juror Number Eight, are you a good judge of character?”

How would you have answered?

I was sitting in the jury box in a courtroom high up in the gleaming new Community Justice Campus in Indianapolis. It was not a place where I would have chosen to be, except that I had received the yellow Summons for Jury Service postcard a few weeks earlier, ordering me to appear as a prospective juror.

In the state of Indiana, prospective jurors are pulled from a random list compiled from the Indiana Department of Motor Vehicles and the Indiana Department of Revenue. If you have a driver’s license and pay your taxes in the Hoosier state, the odds are you’re going to receive a Summons for Jury Service at some point. Ignoring it means you could be found in Contempt of Court, not a happy place.

Now, with the judge looking on, together with the prosecutors, the criminal defendant, and other court officials, I was on a stage that I did not choose.

In the past when I had received such a card with the order, I would complete a questionnaire that included a statement that as a disciple of Jesus Christ, I did not want to sit in judgment of another human being. In the past that typically resulted in me being excused.

That advance option was no longer available, so I made the trip downtown to make the statement in person.

Now, here I was, in the jury box, going through the formal Voir Dire selection process. Twenty-six other prospective jurors were following the proceedings from the galley.

Earlier, one of the prosecutors had noted that I had checked the box on the questionnaire and made a short statement about my religious beliefs. Her simple question caught me off guard: “Are you capable of being impartial?” When I replied in the affirmative, she politely moved on, leaving me with no place to go and explain further.

This was getting unexpectedly stressful.

So now I had to answer, for the record, whether I was a good judge of character.

Humbled, I replied that I thought the question was subjective in nature. As she waited expectantly, I added, speaking from experience as a flawed human being: “I would think that I’m a reasonably good judge of character.”

Then it got harder, at least for me personally.

“Juror Number Eight, how would you evaluate the character of a person whom you’ve never met?”

Obviously respecting the process and the potential weighty responsibility, but also wanting to be anywhere else but this courtroom, I paused.  Then a thought flashed through my mind. I remembered from Walter Issacson’s biography of Albert Einstein that Einstein had condemned and rejected moral relativity as an interpretation or extrapolation of his General Theory of Relativity. Einstein was appalled at the false and harmful notion that humans could decide for themselves what was good and evil. I remembered that Einstein was, as was quoted in Issacson’s work, “a man of simple and absolute moral convictions.”

Truth is not relative

So, I respectfully answered the defense counsel: “Truth is not relative.”

Then I added, “Inconsistencies can indicate issues of character.”

She met my gaze for a few more moments. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the judge making a note.

Then the defense counsel polled a few others in the jury box: “Juror Number Five [we were all anonymously numbered to protect our public privacy], do you agree that ‘inconsistencies can create issues?’” When that juror answered in the affirmative, the defense counsel asked a couple of others in the jury box the same question. They all agreed.

What had just happened?

The initial Voir Dire process concluded, and the judge asked all of the attorneys to approach the bench.

All I could think of was how in the world did I get picked for the first group of prospective jurors? The judge had read the criminal charges to us at the beginning of the process, and they were ugly. What was next?

Some papers passed between the attorneys and the judge. Then she turned to us.

The judge reminded those in the jury box that she had explained the concept of a “peremptory challenge,” where attorneys dismiss potential jurors without giving a stated reason. She reminded us that such a dismissal did not reflect on our character and should not be taken personally.

Then she looked at me and stated, “Juror Number Eight, you are excused and dismissed.” Then she excused the three other jurors who had agreed about “inconsistencies” potentially indicating a character issue. One other with a medical issue was also excused.

As I made my way out of the courtroom, I felt a heavy burden lift. I was free to go. The corridor outside the courtroom was brightly lit, offering a brilliant view of the Indianapolis skyline in a way that I had not seen.

New insight

I looked at the city with a different understanding. While the city looked beautiful from the height of the building, I knew that there were more than a million people in that view, many in the midst of their own trials. There was pain masked in that beauty.

The concept of moral relativity represents a principle that actually goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when humanity chose for themselves how to define good and evil. Based in error, it tragically undermines human comprehension of faith in the absolute and sows devastating human doubt. As historian Paul Johnson wrote, the idea of moral relativity “formed a knife to help cut society adrift.”

“Truth is not relative,” I thought, standing before the sweeping view. The Gospel of the Kingdom of God, a Gospel that the apostle Paul described as “the Gospel of the grace of God,” (Acts 20:24) was not relative. It was more real, more powerful, more immutable, more absolute than anything I had just experienced or what lay on the horizon.

How would you answer?

By Michael Snyder

The post How would you answer? appeared first on Seeking The Way.

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Here’s a vital directive that can help us. It was given to us some 2,000 years ago on possibly the darkest night of the physical universe. Just hours before His gruesome death and ultimate sacrifice, our Savior and Elder Brother, Jesus Christ the Messiah, provided this deeply personal and powerful imperative command.

His directive is heightened by the fact that he was in full possession of the facts. He knew full well what was about to happen to Him, and, as the Bible records, it troubled Him. But His focus was elsewhere, like ours needs to be.

While Jesus knew he would soon experience searing pain, humiliation and death, he had been given a remarkably special gift.

What was that gift?

In Hebrews 1, verse nine, we read something that sometimes gets read right over. Quoting Psalm 45:6-7, we read from the New Living Translation, “You [referring to Jesus Christ] love justice and hate evil.
Therefore…your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else”

We may not think of Jesus Christ being a joy-filled person while on earth, but the Bible confirms that He had a special anointing of joy from God Himself.  The spiritually driven positive outlook was part of Jesus’ ministry. What did that gift reflect?

What did that gift reflect?

The Greek word for “joy” (or “gladness” in some translations) is agalliasis – Strong’s G20 – it means “exultation, extreme joy, gladness.”

Let’s consider that Jesus Himself was given a special anointing of joy; a spiritual gift that helped Him fulfill His earthly mission. That anointing helped sustain Him right up to the end, when He became the ultimate sacrifice for us all.

Here’s where this gets very personal

Jesus Christ specifically wants to share that powerful spiritual anointing of joy with each of us, including anyone reading this. There is a specific way and means for us to receive this and other major spiritual gifts.

Let’s take a look in John the fifteenth chapter, where we’ll spend some time.  It’s a very deep chapter, one that deserves careful study and application.

Specifically, let’s begin with verse 11, a very important promise for you and me. Here’s Jesus tells us: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” The New Living Translation amplifies that to read: “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”

Does that sound like you? Joy is something that should be evident in all of us. It’s a fruit of the spirit, the second so listed by the Apostle Paul.

Thankfully, Jesus explicitly and clearly tells us how to receive and partake of that spiritual gift of joy, and many other gifts as well.

Live Differently – abide

The critical point? We have to live differently.

Here is how our Elder Brother says to do it.

To find it, we just have to back up a few verses in John 15 and start at the beginning. These verse direct us how we are to live our daily lives.

In verse one, Jesus in His role as Messiah, speaking as One given authority to reveal critical information, our Savior says in a declarative statement:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.”

He does not say, “I am a like a metaphorical allegory, and my father is an anthropomorphic metaphor of a human farmer.” There are real-time specific roles and functions that Jesus and God the Father hold in each of our lives.

If we are to be true disciples, we have to be a literal spiritual branch, directly connected to Jesus as the life-giving Vine. What does that mean?

A few years ago, I spent a decade serving on the advisory council of the $2 billion Discovery Park operation at Purdue University in West Lafayette. At one meeting, a senior professor of agriculture presented a remarkable review of hydraulic pressure in plants.

Before your eyes glaze over reading this, let me say that the professor was pointing out that there was no separate pump to collect, segment and drive nutrients and water up the plant stem – the vine. There were many other functions of the vine, all critical to the life of the plant. All plants are truly living miracles in this function, although scientists would probably not use that word.

The vine would supply these nutrients so the offshoots – the branches – could bear fruit and also develop leaves for photosynthesis.

Separate the branch from the vine, she noted, and you have a condition that will result in the death of branch.

This process mirrors what Jesus taught in these last few hours before His death.

But Jesus adds an important dimension of His Father as an active vinedresser concerned with the spiritual health of His children. Jesus says in verse 2: “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

Our personal relationship with Jesus the Son of God is definitely not going to be a static one. Even as we bear spiritual fruit, God gives us challenges and trials – referred here as “pruning” – to spur growth.

The result? Sometimes we grow at the speed of pain. God wants us to trust Him closely, so we can be placed in situations where our faith is tested. As James says, as we develop and apply perseverance, we produce sterling character.

That’s very difficult – perhaps even impossible – to achieve on a human scale. And that’s why Jesus gives us the solution.

Continuing His explanation of the purpose and role of Jesus as our life-giving Vine, He switches from the declarative to the imperative. In verse four, he tells what to do:

Abide in Me

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”

Continuing, Jesus expands this critical relationship: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

“Nothing” is a big word in scripture. And remember, Jesus is delivering these critical instructions just before a galactic-level pivotal event. These are not instructions just for the Passover, but on a 24/7/365 basis for the rest of our lives.

The payoff – both in this life and in the next – is nothing short of huge.

The key point here and the main energizing takeaway, is Jesus imperative command to “abide.” If  we “abide,” we’re in good spiritual shape. But there are many human physical and spiritual distractions that can get in the way of us abiding.

The apostle John loves the word context of “abide,” as he quotes Jesus using it several times in John’s Gospel and also in John’s letters. It’s critical to understand what this means.

The Greek word for “abide” was commonly used in the 1^st century Greek world. The Greek transliteration is meno, Strong’s G3306. It means to “remain, dwell, sojourn, endure, remain as one, to wait for.” Sometimes it is translated “tarry,” which fulfills the “wait for,” or “remain.” Apart from being translated “abide,” the Greek word is used in different applications, appearing more than 100 times in the New Testament in varying forms.

But the context of “abide” in John’s account is critical for us, including both our daily life today and our life to come.

To abide represents a dynamic, ongoing commitment and process.

Jesus doesn’t command us to “one off” things. Repentance (which Greek word means to “think differently”) is an ongoing commitment and process. When we stumble or when we learn of something we need to change, we engage in a dynamic spiritual process, one that is led by God’s Holy Spirit.

When Jesus tells to abide in Him, that means we are to be engaged through our minds and lives all the time.  He makes that clear in John chapter eight, verse 31:

“Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide [dwell, remain, endure] in my word, you are truly my disciples,  and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

There is nothing uniquely religious about the word abide. In the language of the New Testament, it is the ordinary word for “stay” or “continue” or sometimes “dwell.” Jesus meant: “Stay in me. Continue in me. Keep me for your dwelling.” It is the lifelong extension of seeking and engaging in a relationship with Jesus, our Elder Brother and soon coming King.

When you seek and obey God (as instructed by our Elder Brother Jesus), you are physically abiding with Jesus Christ, reflecting your surrender to God and your desire to be like Him. But truly abiding in Jesus Christ the Messiah and Son of God goes beyond this.  When we abide – dwell closely with Him 24/7 – in Jesus Christ, we receive the capacity to bear spiritual fruit and to grow spiritually.

The Messiah lives in us!

Also, and this is vitally important, when we “abide” in Jesus Christ, He lives His life in us – he abides with us!

If we consider the element of “dwelling” we can see what this means more fully for us personally.

David wrote of this in a powerful way in Psalm 27. In fact, he put a very high priority for dwelling with God, as we read in verse 4:

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire [or meditate] in his temple.”

Here’s an important point for you to consider. When David wrote Psalm 27, there was no temple.  Solomon would not complete the physical First Temple until after David had died. The only “temple” prior to that was the tent of meeting tabernacle at Shiloh.  David of course moved the Ark of Covenant to Jerusalem after defeating the Philistines, where it was sheltered in a tent and a temporary altar was set up for David to offer burnt and peace offerings.

To understand the context of this, let us consider that the physical temple (whether in the tent of meeting in the wilderness or the first temple of Solomon) featured three distinct areas. The Holy of Holies of course was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. The ark had two cherubim covering the ark (and was covered with a blue cloth when travelling). God would speak to the Israelites from this physical location called the mercy seat, so it represented His Presence on earth.

So we can understand that David wanted to be close to God, living 24/7 in God’s presence. The Hebrew word for “beauty” here means kindness or delightfulness, and it also is one of the words used to signify God’s favor or even grace.

Like what Jesus commands to abide, David wanted a similar relationship. He wanted to live in God’s presence, which we should be desiring as well. We daily seek God through prayer, meditation and Bible study to get closer to that presence and have God – through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and Jesus Himself – nestled deeply in our lives.

A major part of abiding in Jesus Christ is keeping His commandments, including the ones He gave at Sinai when He served as the spiritual Rock guiding the ancient Israelites.  As Jesus emphatically declared in John 15, verse 10

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

Through active obedience with understanding – following the example of Jesus who learned obedience through the things He suffered – we abide – DWELL – in the love of Jesus, thereby also having access to spiritual love from God the Father Himself.

Jesus says as much back in the 14^th chapter of John, in verse 23:

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

This command to abide, to be directly connected to God through Jesus Christ as the living and life-giving Vine is vitally important to you and me in our daily lives.

Mirroring humanly what David wrote, we want to be in the presence of – to dwell with – our husband or wife.  We want a day-to-day, sometimes minute-by-minute relationship that we prefer. We may need to be physically apart from time to time, but we use cell phones, texts and other communication to stay in touch with the people whom we love.

We do it because we have developed a deep relationship that draws us physically together.

Living and abiding with God and Jesus Christ

The same is true of Jesus Christ and God the Father.  We are commanded to abide – to desire to dwell – in a direct relationship with Jesus, which leads directly to a relationship with God.

What’s the unbreakable promise for doing this? As Jesus Himself declared in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

If we indeed are dwelling – abiding in Jesus, drinking in the powerful words that He caused to be preserved, our prayers will be answered. As Romans 12:1-2 shows us, God’s will for us will be revealed to us by the transforming of our minds through the power of the Holy Spirit. We can therefore be aligned with both Jesus and God and pray according to that divine will.

To abide represents a dynamic, ongoing commitment and process.

When we abide and are connected to the spiritual Vine that is Jesus Christ, we will bear fruit. God will regularly move us out of our comfort zone and help us to produce even more fruit, preparing us with sterling character that will last for all eternity.

When we abide and dwell daily with Jesus, surrendering our lives through dynamic repentance and change, people will see emerging in our lives the spiritual fruit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  These are all spiritual gifts that reflect the quality and character of God.

Now, you may ask, how does one actually “abide” in Jesus and Him in us?

You probably already know the answer, but allow me to bring it up for review. There are three deliberate acts and focus that will help us to develop a close abiding relationship with Jesus Christ and God.

The first is to live and walk by faith.

Paul wrote to Romans, ringing down to us today: “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

As Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:8 “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.”

There’s that special anointing of joy that Jesus promised that He would make available to us when we dwell and abide in Him.

We read in Hebrews 11:6 a familiar but critical verse: “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Inherent in this walk of faith is the willingness and commitment to trust God, believing what we just read that “he rewards those who seek him.” That’s a major part of abiding, of dwelling in, of living with Jesus and God.

The second part required to abide involves spending time.

How we use our time here on earth directly reflects the quality of life we will have. If we waste time, we reap the consequences. If we invest our time and energy in profitable activities, we will benefit.

If we want to abide in Jesus Christ, we have to be drinking deep of His revealed word. It’s no accident that a paramount title of Jesus is the Word. Scripture has power when it appears in our minds through study and meditation. Its power is indeed a mystery. Even as you today hear the words of scripture, God personally contours and shapes those words so they impact you personally. Everyone today will walk away with different things to work on, even within the context of what was read aloud.

Quite literally, we you read or hear scripture with purpose and intent, a miracle occurs. God’s Holy Spirit changes those powers into life-giving and life-sustaining power within your mind.

Abiding or dwelling with Jesus means speaking with Him and God our mutual Father. Jesus wants us to understand who and what God is, which character and purpose Jesus directly reflects. Paul prayed in Ephesians that the eyes of our hearts would be opened and enlightened so we would perceive and understand God the Father. Later in Ephesians, we read that God Himself wants us to understand the depth of love that Jesus Christ manifests. It’s amazing to consider.

But we have to spend quality time. That doesn’t mean that everything has to be an elaborate spiritual production where you’re on your knees surrounded by commentaries, laptops and various translations. You can simply pray regularly and silently – like right n0w – to help to abide with Jesus Christ and dwell in God’s presence.

Third, we learn how to abide and dwell with Jesus when we engage in deliberate and intentional action. These actions involve in actively surrendering ourselves to God through Jesus Christ, being willing to search out and break up fallow ground in our physical, emotional and spiritual lives.

We are instructed in Hosea chapter 10, verse 12: “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.”

As Jesus Himself declared time and again, we must obey God and keep His commandments. As God is love, those commandments are grounded in love. Their application improves our lives.

There is one that Jesus deliberately gave us in an imperative context. This is a must do. We find it in John 13, verse 34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, ESV)

We do this imperfectly, but the continued intent and active action must be there. We must aim high constantly, knowing that through the spiritual grace of God we will be strengthened and made complete.

Our deliberate acts of obedience and worship in keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days present us with dual spiritual benefits. We cannot go more than a week without a physical reminder of the Creation and the coming Kingdom of God, spanning God’s purpose for us. That is strategically and periodically recalled to mind in the cycle of the Holy Days, each building upon itself to sketch out and magnify the awesome plan of God.

These days give us a framework for worship, service and praise to God – all attributes of actively abiding and dwelling in Jesus Christ the Messiah, and Him dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit.

So as we live our daily lives – even when we hear of discouraging reports of war and economic turmoil — let us seek to sustain that spiritual gift of rejoicing by learning how to more fully abide and dwell with Jesus Christ.

And in the weeks and months just ahead of us, let’s seize the opportunity to make this the year we truly abide in Jesus the Messiah, the one anointed with the oil of joy.

Interested in a video version? Watch this presentation by Michael Snyder on YouTube.

The post Live Differently – Abide appeared first on Seeking The Way.

We all hold a perspective. How can we know we have the most accurate one?

Here’s a thought: I recently had a conversation with a retired senior FBI agent. He talked considerably about how divided America was – politically, intellectually, even morally. He was agitated, concerned, and thoughtful about the present and the future of America.

He didn’t directly quote the scripture, but he alluded to the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:25 – noting that a nation divided against itself cannot stand.

So what does that mean for us? What can we personally do?

We shape, mold and fashion our lives according to our perceptions and our perspectives. Which perspectives are true? Which are false? Which are misleading?

One could make a case that we live today in a 21^st century Rashomon effect.

The famous 1950 Japanese psychodrama movie Rashomon is considered one of the greatest movies ever made.

The movie portrays how people can sharply interpret a critical event in dramatically different ways.

In the movie, a murder takes place. But four eyewitnesses all have their own take on what happened, which all differ dramatically. Each presents subjective, alternative and contradictory versions of the same incident. One of the main takeaways is that people see things, process them, and interpret them occurring to their own backgrounds, standards and experiences.

Which one is true? Well, there’s the rub. The movie – which resembles life today – examines how different eyewitness perspectives can be.

A quick look at today’s geopolitical events sadly demonstrates how the Rashomon effect is alive and well today. Whole groups of people hold energizing but completely opposite political and societal perspectives.

Like in the movie Rashomon, people regularly create and vigorously present subjective, alternative and contradictory versions of the same incident.

With different eyewitness of big history claiming radically different perspectives, we live in the midst of a giant living Rashomon movie. It affects us deeply, whether we want it to or not.

So what is our perspective? Is there a means to be truly confident that our perspective is correct?

Thankfully, we have the lifeline of the preserved words of God. We have a reliable source that gives us strength, confidence and most importantly, hope. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

That’s a completely different perspective from many people today.

How is that biblical perspective demonstrated?  Each of us plays a critical role in demonstrating God’s perspective in action. One can believe that we are called to be open living examples of God’s powerful truth.

Peter authoritatively tells us that we are to be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (I Peter 3:15).

But here’s the important assumption he makes: you and I are actually going to be doing things that make us individually stand out. We are – as Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior tells us – to be a city on a hill, to individually be a light to the world.

As Nobel Prize winner Albert Schweitzer once said: “Example is not the main thing in life—it is the only thing.” 

Talk is cheap. Example is power – especially when personal behavior runs contrary to everything around us.

Where people are cursing their lives, their surroundings, their lack of hope, disciples of Jesus Christ are to be actively demonstrating the biblical liofestyle in real time. In increasingly dark and lawless days we are told: “Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.”

The point? People should be able to see God and Jesus actually living in us, the very “mystery of the ages” referred to in Colossians 1:26. It is intended that this divine influence be openly perceived. That’s a hard task. I’m sure many people could cite my personal flaws.

Even if we miss the mark – as yours truly openly personally recognizes – why is it important to keep trying?

When we succeed, we become force multipliers by example.

A living example is important because it’s exceedingly difficult to change a perspective. Once  a first impression is made, it requires extraordinary targeted multiple efforts to change it.

As one psychologist wrote in Psychology Today magazine: “Deep change is hard. Each side fervently believes that his/her way is the only way; a disturbing dynamic because it blurs the truth and places winning above reality.”

Here’s a critical point as the author continues: “Have you ever noticed that when you debate someone, particularly on topics of a political or religious nature you are not simply arguing with “one” person about “one” issue? Rather, you are arguing with an individual’s entire life history and all the people that have influenced that person along the way. Specifically, the way they were raised, their life experiences, their families of origin, and even their mentors. How can you possibly have much of an impact?”

Quietly demonstrating a way of life that brings peace, that brings hope, that brightens a room – that gets people’s attention. They wonder why – in a darkening world – someone can care, that someone can be positive.

What’s our takeaway? To be marvelously effective, we don’t have to determine that we are going to individually preach the Gospel. We simply live God’s way of life out in the open.

Paul gives us a framework to change ourselves that will accomplish this in a wonderful way.

It’s discussed in the third chapter of the book of Colossians. These are instructions that represent deep personal deliberate choices that we are to make.

Since Jesus Christ is living within us, Paul tells us in verse 1 of chapter 3 to “set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” That’s really easy to pass right over. To get context, read the entire 4^th chapter of Revelation for a detailed description of what Paul’s talking about. There’s a lot of power and unspeakable majesty going on there.

In verses 5 through 9, Paul tells us what NOT to do.

But in verse 12, Paul’s gets very explicit. He talks directly to you and me today. He says look. You – meaning everyone in this room within the sound of my voice – you are divinely chosen. You are holy and set apart by God Himself. You are dearly loved by the mightiest Beings in the known universe and beyond.

So, Paul says, “put on” or “clothe” yourselves with key attributes. The Greek work “Put on” or “clothe” is transliterated endyo (Strongs G1746), which is a Greek verb that the embodies the sense of “sinking into a garment.”  

So what are we supposed to sink our lives and consciousness into? This is the reputation that each one of us in this room is supposed to have.

We’re supposed to manifest things which are in short supply in our present world. These include:

Compassionate hearts – we are emphatic to everyone.

Kindness – we take the extra step to serve without wanting anything in return. In a world where everything is generally harsh, we become bright lights who selfless serve. Little things count!

Humility – a huge one. We are told to esteem others higher than ourselves in everything. We are to become like little children, believing the best! Peter goes the same route – in 1 Peter 5:5 he tells you and me – “clothe yourselves with humility”

Meekness – being teachable, easy to work with. I was at the Good Earth health store in Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago. A very fit and imposing man was filling up a large container from a granola bin. I was planning to buy some, but his container was bigger than the bin. I thought, “well that’s that – nothing will be left.” As I turned, he looked up at me and said, “Did you want some of this?” Surprised, but resigned that I wasn’t getting any, “I said, yeah, but that’s okay.”

He then shocked me. “He said no, come here and help yourself. There are too many [fill in the blank with a pejorative plural noun] in the world and not enough gentlemen.” I found myself wondering why he would do that, when he clearly could continue whether I liked it or not.

He changed my perspective by being meek.

Paul goes on in Colossians 3 with a big ask – demonstrate patience, especially among brothers and sisters in the faith.

We’re supposed to forgive one another.

We are told that we “must forgive.” It’s not an option. If we have a problem with that, we need to be asking for spiritual strength and help.

The capstone? “Above all” Paul says – put on/clothe – there’s that fullness of sinking into a garment again – AGAPE – unconditional love (Strong’s G26)

The presence of that spiritually inspired love allows us to let the peace brought by the Messiah – the anointed one of God – to RULE, to dominate, to conquer our hearts. And that, by natural progression, allows us to be thankful, which is overt impression of appreciation and thoughtful contentment.

The words of God hold inspirational power – they ignite in our minds. They change us.

And finally, here’s the summation in verse 17: “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Check yourself. How many things have you done today in fulfillment of that specific direction of Paul? That’s tough, isn’t it?

But here’s the main point. If we really do these things, surrendering ourselves to God’s will, believing and doing, then we don’t have to worry about promoting the truth. The net outcome of doing this is astonishingly attractive. In a darkening world, light attracts attention. Light doesn’t have to say anything. A lighted city set on a hill in a world that is opaque and shadowy will automatically seize someone’s attention.

It will cause people to ask questions. What is this hope that you have? Why to do have hope?

And when people see you doing it, being a light, you can change a perspective.

As we go through the week ahead, let’s be about our Father’s business. Let’s embrace the power to change perspectives.

By Michael A. Snyder

(This post was adapted from a church presentation by the same name. If you would like to view the video of the presentation, click here.)

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So that’s a fair question. Let’s apply Occam’s Razor for the answer. Occam’s Razor, or the Law of Parsimony, states: pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate, “plurality should not be posited without necessity.”

In other words, let’s keep it simple. The simplest answer is generally — perhaps often — the best.

So would it be too difficult to place the mass of relevant human history in context? That context being the age of the physical universe (13-14 billion years) compared to the germane activity of humanity (~6,000 years).

They say that the visualization of data is one of the best ways to understand someone. Fortunately, the talented people at Metrocosm have taken the most comprehensive geo dataset available on cities (ancient and modern) and made it come alive.

Note below, at 3,450 B.C. (5,466 years ago), we only have one city, Uruk. And not a very big one at that. It, of course, is in the Middle East. Modern day Saudi Arabia, give or take a few hundred miles.

Now continuing, we advance a couple of hundred years to the Bronze Age, where we now have the first vehicles with wheels. We also have a couple more cities. They are still very small in stature.

Now let’s jump ahead about 1,000 years to the time when the Egyptian dynasties are marking their mark. We’re now at the time of the construction of the Great Pyramid, about 2,500 B.C.

How are we looking for urbanized cities?

Still, only a handful. And, of course, all in the Middle East.

So let’s jump ahead another 1,000 years or so when the first dynasty appears in China. Still not very impressive in the amount of recognized historical cities. And still intensely focused on the Middle East area.

So lest we get boring, let’s accelerate things at bit.

In AD 25 (or CE, if you prefer), the time when Jesus Christ walked to the earth as a human being, things have begun to heat up on the urbanization front. But are you noticing a trend?

So over the next 1,900 years, a virtual population explosion takes place. From a collective few million people, the world population dramatically bursts to top the 7.4 billion mark. I invite to watch the dramatic explosion for yourself here.

But what’s the point, the simple answer? The area of Israel (ancient and modern-day) is basically the only continental land bridge that joins three continents: Asia, Europe and Africa. Major trade routes — the heart of commerce and transportation — have always passed through there. The land  and region of Israel represents the apex of ancient — and fairly modern — civilization. It is the only land that God openly designates as one promised to a people. And that’s a promise that will be fulfilled.

It is the most high profile historical region on the planet.

Numerous biblical oracles also extend beyond ancient Israel — the phrase “all nations” and similar like “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 2:8. New International Version) are not uncommon.

So here’s a consideration. The Bible has a global focus. And when it focuses on the area of the Middle East, perhaps the authors are doing so deliberately.

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“Do everything in love.” An unexpected directive at the conclusion of an intense ancient letter. When the apostle Paul wrote his first letter (or rather, the first letter that we know of) to the gentile congregation at Corinth, he covered the whole spectrum. He profoundly emphasized the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to the Greeks a distant figure of Jewish background. He touched on prophetic elements. He severely corrected the congregation for tolerating a continuing situation involving intimate relations forbidden by Old Testament law. And in the midst of this intensity, he dictated an incredible piece of literature, which we know commonly as the “love chapter.”

A complex man, living in complex times. Perhaps a bit like today. Here’s a related thought. Biblical scholar Ben Witherington made an excellent point when he wrote: “A word of caution is in order. We are captives to the sources we have.” In this same volume, he also rightly noted: “There is no such thing as uninterpreted history…every historical account is written from some point of view.”

In the Bible and other sources contemporary and ancient, often as in life today, we have somebody’s recorded point of view. We have the answers. What we don’t often know is this: what were the questions?

The Bible preserves some tantalizing, just-out-of-reach thoughts.  It speaks in the Old Testament –Isaiah and Jeremiah, for instance – and in Acts in the New Testament of something called “The Way.”

What was that “Way”? Have we fallen into the pit that Witherington warns of? Have we misinterpreted critical historical accounts? Do we see current events through a warped lens of distorted antiquity?

The prophet Jeremiah gave ancient Judah an interesting command:

“This is what the Lord says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it”    (Jeremiah 6:16, New International Version)

What relevance does this have for us today? In this world’s increasingly synthesized and globalized society, I suspect many might deploy that “crossroads” metaphor rather emphatically. Here we are. Where are we going?

This blog, Seeking the Way, does not aspire to the pretentious. It will hopefully present and discuss both the secular and the sacred in a fashion that helps the author (at least) define some of the questions. And if things go in a fortunate fashion, perhaps even try to match up a few with the answers.

Will there be interpreted history? You bet. But hopefully it will be grounded in truth.

So back to Paul. What’s the framework here? Paul emphasized that if he didn’t do things in love, then as he said, “I am nothing” (I Corinthians 13:2, NIV). So as this blog begins, we’ll start there: “Do everything in love” (I Corinthians 16:14, NIV).

Fortuna favet fortibus.

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