Is Your Perception Cloudy?

 Picture 1: Does your perception cloud everything you do?

Picture 2:  Or do you let the sun shine through?

By: Dawn B. Ford

“My perception is my reality.”

However, if your perception is wrong it could cloud everything you believe to be true about yourself and world around you.

Perception of yourself

What are the “tapes” that play over and over in your head? Are they positive or negative?  For years I let negative words spoken by others dictate who I was.  It wasn’t until I dove into God’s word that I realized how destructive those “tapes” and subsequently my “self-talk” was. 

You are “fearfully and wonderfully made” for a purpose (Psalms 139:14).  In Hebrew fearfully is translated from the word “yare” which means “to cause astonishment and awe, to be held in awe.” Palah is the Hebrew word for wonderfully, meaning “to be distinct, to be separated, to be distinguished.”  When God looks at you, he is in awe and sees you as a unique distinctive work of art. 

You can love yourself as much as God does.  Not in a cocky or egotistical way, but in a confident way because you know your place and worth in His kingdom.   

Perception of others

Ever looked at someone and made a snap decision on who they were and what they were going to be like?

When I was in college I worked part-time in a jewelry store.  One Saturday a gentleman came into the store filthy from head to toe.  My colleagues took one look at him, perceived he had no money, and busied themselves to avoid waiting on him.   I was new; it was slow, so I decided to walk over.  I treated him like every other customer, with respect. To everyone’s surprise he paid cash for a 5 carat tennis bracelet.  I got the commission and he never forgot how I treated him.  From then on, he would only work with me.  

Image the perception the ruling class had about Jesus’ disciples.  Can you blame them?  Take Peter for example.  Would you have picked him for your team or a major assignment in your corporation? He was hot headed, loud, always said the wrong thing and had a major issue with peer pressure.

But Jesus saw something else.  In Matthew 16 he makes a bold statement.

“...And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18) (Underlining and bold added by me).

Peter means “a rock, a stone.” In Greek - petros.   The word “rock” in the above sentence is translated from petra “a cliff or a ridge...a much bigger rock.”  Jesus saw Peter’s reality and was saying to him, “Peter you are strong like a rock (pointing to him) and on this “rock” (pointing to himself) I will build my church.” * 

Jesus is basically telling Peter no matter what people think or how you mess up; you’re a chip off the old block.  Jesus looks at each one of the same way.  We’re all his favorites.

Perception of God  

How do you view God?  A distant father?  A supreme being who really doesn’t care?  Judge, jury, executioner?   

God is pure love.  If you been told or you feel any different, you’ve been lied to or you’re being duped.  If anyone claiming to be a Christ follower has treated you with anything less than love, they misrepresented themselves and God. 

“...let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love, does not know God because God is love,” 1 John 4:7-8.

Again the Greek language is sometimes hard to translate to English.  The Greeks had four different words for love, we only have one.  Eros meant passionate love.  Philia meant brotherly love and Storge meant affection for.  The love mentioned in the above verses is Agape; an unconditional full blown no-matter-what kind of love.  God loves us that way and we are called to agape love in the same way.

How do you change your perception to sunny?

·         Read and study the bible.  How we view God is the foundation of how we see ourselves and others.  If we don’t know the truth about God, then we can’t possibly know how he sees us and how we're supposed to treat others.

·        Give others a break.  We’re all human.  We all mess up.   Think of the times you’ve been extended grace and give grace in return.

·         It’s not all about you.  Sometimes people have a bad day.  Sometimes the look on their face that has nothing to do with you.  Don’t let problems fester in your head that aren't really there.

Questions to think about

1.      Does your self worth come from what others say about you or what God says about you?

2.      Ever believe your perception of someone or something was dead on and then you found out you were dead wrong?  What did you do?

3.     What can you do today to change your perception of yourself?  Others?  God?

* www.blueletterbible.com commentary by David Guzik.

Dawn Ford is the VP and Creative Director of Infinite Love Ministries, INC.  A 501 (c)(3) non-profit dedicated to showing all the infinite love of Christ.  For more informaiton or to contact Dawn to speak at your next women's event check out our website www.infiniteloveministries.com

Have You Irritated Anyone Lately?

By:  Dawn Ford

Have you ever read a book where you enjoyed every character, agreed with everything they did or there were only “good guys” in the story?  I don’t know about you, but that would put me to sleep.  Every good story needs some kind of conflict.  Or the opposite.  Have you ever read a book where you didn’t like any of the characters, didn’t agree with anything they did, and there were only “bad guys” in the story?  I wouldn’t be able to finish it.  What’s the point of reading a story if there’s no one to root for?

So why as Christ Followers do we tell our story between two extremes?  Either we’re the forever “good guys” bending to the world almost apologizing for our beliefs or we’re the forever “bad guys” hitting people over the head with our bible bullying them into belief.  While we are called to the “great commission” (Matthew 28:19), we are not called to bring anyone to Christ kicking or screaming. 

A great model for balance was Jesus Christ.  From the moment of his birth to his death 33 years later, he pretty much irked someone.  Whether it was King Herod (Matthew 2:1-19), the ruling class (pick a gospel and read it), or a self-righteous Jew (Luke 10:30-37), he wasn’t afraid to make waves, to make people think or call people out if they weren’t living appropriately.   But how he did it was just as important as why he did it.

1.      Jesus knew his audience.  Jesus was a Jew living in first century Palestine.  The majority of his audiences were Jews.  He knew who he was speaking to, what they struggle with and what the constraints of society were.  While he taught using imagery his audience would understand, he wasn’t afraid to challenge them.  Especially about their religious beliefs, their class structure and their gender basis.   

2.      Jesus knew the facts.  During Jesus time every male Jew was taught in the synagogue until they were 14 years of age.  Then from there if they showed promise the boys were trained further.  Jesus’ earthly father was a carpenter, so Jesus was destine to learn the trade and be a carpenter as well.  The possibility of him being trained beyond 14 was slim.  While he was divine, during his three year ministry many did not realize that, so his knowledge of scripture for the amount of formal training was astounding.  Even the soldier’s first attempt to arrest him was confounded by his knowledge of scripture and his ability to teach. (John 7:45-46)

3.      Jesus only had one agenda.  While Jesus made many scratch their heads and had them walking away unable to argue with him, his motives for pure and his agenda very specific.  He wanted to bring people back to his father. (John 5:19, John 6:32) It wasn’t about winning the argument.  It wasn’t about being right.  It was about opening people’s eyes and making them see the truth they already knew in a radical way.   

4.      Jesus always made his argument in love.  Whether he was eating with a tax collector, correcting Peter or given the Pharisees a hard time, he never watered down his message. He never tried to make his words easier to swallow and he never shoved his message down anyone’s throat.  He spoke truth, but left it up to his audience if they were going to follow. 

Discussion Questions:

1.      Where do you fall between the two extremes?  How can you make an effort to be more balanced in your approach?

2.      Do you have a strong knowledge of scripture and the word of God or do you rely on others to give you the data dump?

3.      What do you do if someone gets mad at you about your Christian beliefs?

Leave a comment below.  Let me know what you think. 

Dawn Ford is the Vice President and Creative Director for Infinite Love Ministries.  A non-profit corporation dedicated to showing all the infinite love of Christ.  This is done two ways; directly through sound bible teaching and indirectly through supporting programs that promote literacy and better health care.  For more info. check out www.infiniteloveministries.com.