Thyself?

“What sayest thou of thyself?” In John 1, the priests and Levites, which were sent from the Pharisees, ask John this question.

What would your answer be?

“What sayest thou of thyself?” I’m a mother.
“What sayest thou of thyself?” I’m a teacher.
“What sayest thou of thyself?” I’m a student.
“What sayest thou of thyself?” I’m a photographer.

What did John reply? “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord…”

What do we say we are? Is our first response what John’s was? Do you say, “I’m a Christian, leading souls to the Savior.”? Or, do we immediately think of something that has no bearing on eternity?

“What sayest thou of thyself?”

Love: Christ's Way

And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not. And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors. And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, Save thyself, and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

The utmost revelation of love. The ultimate sacrifice. The perfect Lamb of God took upon himself SIN. The Creator of the universe, the One who held and does hold all things together. With a thought could split the atom, sending our world into oblivion. This same One was the One who died the most painful death imaginable in that day. The most shameful demise. He hung on a cross of wood. Wood that HE created. He hung suspended from metal spikes that ripped through his wrists. He suffered the agony of being separated from His Father, because he WAS sin. He was OUR sin.

Why?

Because He Loved us. He gave the ultimate sacrifice that WE might live.

"Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend."
If Christ's death on the cross was the picture of what love really should be, can we evalute our own relationships and see where our selfish nature has belittled the immensity that God created for our interactions with those we love.

When those we love hurt, we hurt. Have you ever experienced this personally? I have. You watch as the pain, grief, or sorrow tears to the heart of your friend or family member. And, as you watch, you begin to feel the same pain. Why? Because when we love someone, they take a place in our soul. And, when they hurt, we feel that same pain because they are part of us. We become so in tune with them that in some instances, we know what they are thinking or feeling, even if they are doing all they can do to hide it. We also are aware of anything that could hurt them, whether in what we do, or what others may do. Why? Because we love them.

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

But, the joy of friendship is rejoicing when they rejoice. Christ showed us the ULTIMATE example of Love. Christ is love. When we love, we show Christ. The risen Christ. The Christ who LOVED us!

Viewing God

Perspective does not change essence; rather it changes the depth of the perspective.

Humans will have problems with this phrase. How do I know they will have problems? There are two reasons: either they will attribute wrong definitions to the words, or they will achieve the right definitions and disagree with the truth encapsulated in the statement. To save from the first, I will endeavor to define the statement into understandable references.

What do I mean by perspective? I mean outlook. How one looks at something. If someone said, “You just have wrong perspective,” you would take offence, not from the fact that he called you wrong, but the fact that he doesn’t view your perspective in the way you do. He doesn’t look at it the way you would, did, or could.

What do I mean by essence? I’ll degrade for the benefit of arriving at the same conclusion in the end. I, along with many readers, have washed my hair with a shampoo that claims to be made up entirely of herbs. Herbal Essence. You are hopefully not cringing in disgust, wondering how I could clean my scalp with herbs, are you? Nor are you thanking your lucky stars that I’m not sitting next to you, smelling of stomach-turning herbs. No. All essence means in the shampoo is that the fundamental nature of the liquid is one of healthy, benefiting herbs. Essence: the fundamental nature.

What do I mean by depth? Think of a swimming pool (this is NOT going to be a discussion on benefits versus hindrances of swimming. Just follow my logic here, please!) Imagine with me the largest pool in the world, consisting of extensive areas of play for all ages. Olympic size lap swim for the proficient swimmers. Tens of hundreds of slides of all shapes and sizes. Water toys that all children would drool over. And imagine on top of this, mothers, that it was pre-supervised, a free – babysitting service, prepared with references from extensively important insurance companies, guarantying the safety of your children. What would you say if as you were walking through the facilities you saw that the “kiddy pool” had a depth measurement of ten, not feet, but yards? You would say, “I don’t care what references there are, it cannot POSSIBLY be safe for my two year old to be playing in that large amount of water.” Why? Because you didn’t learn your conversion factors in elementary school and have a personal grudge against the unit of measurement? No! Because the amount of water compared to your two year old is entirely un-proportional. You knew it was TOO deep. That’s what I mean by depth.

Now, although I am sure I have lost some of you, I wish to move on. Let me rephrase the previous phrase in different, but equal terms.

How a human views the fundamental nature of something does not change that fundamental nature, but rather changes the amount that is allotted to be understood from that perspective.

I have probably succeeded in confusing you, because, as I write this, I agree that the first statement is less confusing than the latter; but, don’t get lost. Follow me with this one.

In Israel, there are some roofs that are flat. Like flat. (Must I define this too?) With no angles of inclination or declination. Flat. Picture yourself lying flat (the SAME definition) on the roof. Those of the readers who value their dignity, they might want to imagine someone else lying flat on the flat roof in Jerusalem. Anyway… here’s where the dignity goes out the window. Now, consider that you stick your neck off the balcony while lying flat on the flat roof in Israel, creating a ninety degree angle with the wall that extends to the ground. This is important, so stay with me.
Moving on… as you stare down toward the ground with embarrassment reddening your cheeks, you notice something right beneath you. As an American, you KNOW that you KNOW that you KNOW what you are looking at. The greatest comfort food: a Hershey chocolate bar.

Now, speaking entirely from what you see, all you see is the chocolate bar. It looks great. But, you begin to wonder, what size is this WONDERFUL treat? All you can see is the fact that it IS a chocolate bar. You know the dimensions of it – it is so long by so wide. Yet, as your stomach begins to growl, you wonder what the volume is? Or, how THICK is it? From this perspective, thickness cannot be measured. Does that mean it really IS as flat as it looks to be?

Your curiosity is screaming. It is then that you notice a ladder extending down the wall. You climb down the first two rungs, look down, and… what? You see that the candy bar isn't flat, but has a thickness to it

It has changed with your perspective. Right? Think about it. Did it CHANGE its thickness because your perspective moved? Get real! No! Did the fact that it is a chocolate bar change because your view changed? No! Your perception of the depth of the chocolate bar changed, not the fundamental nature of the chocolate bar.

Right now, one or both of two things are happening. Your stomach is GROWLING yearning for that chocolate bar. Or, you are scratching your head and asking, “Thanks for the geometry lesson, but what on earth does this have to do with LIFE?” Well….

The mind of finite man as he views God from the roof takes into account all he can see. But, when we climb down the ladder and see that there is more than what we originally saw, has God changed? No. Perspective does not change essence, but rather changes the depth. At salvation, we were looking down from the roof so to speak. God, from our point of view, was. He existed, and interacted with us to the extent that we realized our need for salvation. But, as we begin to build a relationship with Him, we realize that there is more to God than just the aerial view. He is God. But there is SO much we didn’t understand. Does that mean he is MORE than He was in the past? Perspective does not change the essence. He is still the same he was before, but now we are beginning to see THE EXTENT that He is.

Taking it a step further. Did the chocolate bar CHANGE as we stepped down the ladder? Our perspective, or the place from where we viewed the chocolate bar, changed, but the chocolate bar didn’t grow thicker as we gradually walked down the ladder. It was as it was. God doesn’t change as our relationship with Him expands. He was as He was. He is as He is. Our perspective did the changing, not God.

Further. Did the ingredients of the chocolate bar change as we walked down the ladder? Do the attributes of God change as we grow in our relationship with Him? Is this making sense to you?

I can hear screaming! “Compare God to a chocolate bar? How sacrilegious! Shame on you.” I want to make one thing QUITE clear. I am not COMPARING GOD to a chocolate bar, but rather using it as a metaphor (and my English teacher would supplement the RIGHT literary term here ) God supplied human beings with finite minds, with the ability to only think in what WE can understand or what has been revealed to us. Our finite minds cannot wrap itself around the fact that God is not encapsulated in a body like ours, nor is He just a ghost that walks through walls like a white sheet. But yet God says we, man, are made in “the image of God.” God compares HIMSELF in terms of His creation, so that we might be able to grasp just a sliver of the concept.

Here is something interesting. Suppose someone, thinking that God wanted him to go to a particular college, enrolled, packed up, moved many miles from home, and settled into college life. After a short time, he realized that he had mistaken what God had wanted for him, and spent the rest of the semester with this knowledge. God subjected His perfect will to the imperfect thinking of His creation. Doesn’t this fact limit God’s working in our lives? God limited himself to this imperfect thing He created. But God can't be limited, right? But He limited. Thus contradicting the very NATURE of God. Right? Stepping away from this “problem,” I would like to take another step in our illustration. Straining from your perch on the third or fourth rung down, your fingernails are able to pick up a sliver of chocolate, which you immediately drop onto your tongue. Picked up by your taste buds, the bitter taste of dark chocolate invades your senses. With this, you make the ASSUMPTION that the chocolate bar is, in its entirety, dark chocolate. But, un-known to your “finite” mind, the bar is filled with syrup, white-chocolate, and milk chocolate throughout its entirety. Does your assumption that it is dark chocolate all the way through change the fact that it’s not? Your THOUGHT matters nothing in the COMPOSITION of the chocolate bar. Just as our THOUGHTS about God CHANGE nothing in the very Being that God is. We make mistakes – he misread the will of God – does that mean that God’s will for that semester of college was WRONG? Absolutely NOT!

In conclusion, I’ll restate the facts.
1. As we grow closer to God, He doesn’t change, our PERSPECTIVE does.
2. As we grow closer to God, He is still the same He as He was before – we just begin to see more of the picture.
3. The character of God remains the same, no matter how we view Him.

Jack: - You happy? -
Joy: Yes.
Jack: - What kind of happy? -
Joy: Just happy.
Jack- You know my kind of happy? -
Joy: How stupid. I forget. When you ask a question, it means you have the answer waiting.  So go ahead, tell me.- Come on. -
Jack:I'm not telling you now.
Joy: What do I have to do, go to the lecture?
Jack: Yes. Buy the book.  You know, I don't want to be somewhere else anymore.
I'm not waiting for anything new to happen... not looking around the next corner and over the next hill. I'm here now. That's enough.
Joy: - That's your kind of happy, isn't it? -
Jack: Yes. Yes, it is.