Perspective

We all have what we believe. We all have things that we are going to stand by and never let go of. We have parts of our thoughts that are stubborn and that we will always keep even if there is a better explanation of something else. We all have those things that we will never ever let go of. There is nothing wrong with all of this until it becomes a point where we will not listen to others. We say that we are correct and no one else can ever be. We choose not to have an open mind about things because of what we have grown up with. We choose not to have an open mind because we know what truth is and no one else can say anything to change our mind. We all have our own thoughts that might be similar to others, but they do not think the same way that we do.

God created us all. He gave us all of our own minds. However, the biggest thing to remember is that we all were made in his own image. Being made in his own image means that we all reflect the character of God. By being so diverse in our thinking and how we perceive the world, we all can reflect God in a different way. This means that we should not be so quick to deem what is wrong in another person's thoughts. Because they might perceive things a way that we do not, we should use that as a tool instead of a weapon against them. Our perception allows us to have this tunnel vision that only sees one part of God and to see the "whole" or closest to the whole that we can, we need to use the perspectives of those around us. We need to use the truths that have been revealed in their lives and see who God is truly. We need to back down and put our guns down for a bit to really hear God's voice and to see who God really is. We are so busy fighting about what is right and wrong instead of learning from each other to see what God is actually saying to us.

This is something that we spoke about the other day at church and it was brought up again in Andrew's class the other night. The truth is that our church is so divided up based on our beliefs and what is biblical that we tend to miss the bigger picture. We are so tuned into our smaller pictures that we do not take those and put them together to be the body of Christ. This is not something that we can only use in churches, but also in our relationships. We need to quit being so defensive to one another, but really need to start learning from one another. Who cares if what someone else believes is not the same as our belief, learn from that.

Obviously, I am not saying that we should be completely and totally unbiblical. We need to listen to the voice of God and use discernment of the Spirit, but we need to be willing to understand that things are not as crystal clear. We are never going to have one specific interpretation of God's word that we all agree on. We can't because we cannot understand God's mind. That is why he has blessed us in so many different ways so that we might be able to understand better through working together as a body.

Stop being so gosh darn stubborn.