Perception - Case study - Eve

"The serpent said to the woman, "You surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:4,5

In the case study of Eve, we start with a different beginning point. Eve was not created with a sin nature. She didn't come out of the womb already tainted, affected and consumed by sin. She wasn't spiritually dead from day one. She was alive, whole, pure, holy and completely unencumbered.

She was perfect.

But let's get one thing straight. Even in her perfection, she was dependent on God. That was how she was created. She needed His guidance, His wisdom, His love and His counsel.

So what was the serpent's message to her? We are not given a lot of details of their meeting, just the basics. And basically, he called God a liar.

"God said you would die? Are you kidding me? You won't die. You see, He knows that as soon as you eat from the tree you'll be just like Him. You won't need Him anymore because you'll know everything you need to know! That's all that tree does - gives you understanding of good and evil."

One of my favorite women's books is Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and it's main point is that from day one, women have believed the lies Satan has whispered in our ears. It's a powerful book that hits us right between the eyes - gals, check it out.

But that's exactly what Eve did. She believed a lie.

So, what was her perception of God? She knew His instruction and she knew the consequence of disobedience. And yet there seemed to be another side to the story. Was God worried that she would become like Him and not need Him anymore? Was she doing Him a favor by eating it - then He wouldn't have to spend so much time instructing her? Why doesn't He want me to know good and evil? Why withhold something as wonderful as this fruit?

We don't know what she was thinking but we do know her choice. She chose to disregard God's instruction and follow another's. She believed Satan's lie, which means that she believed God had lied to her about the true affect of this fruit.

God. A liar.

Can you even imagine?

And that was in a perfect state.

Now put our lives into perspective. We are tainted by sin. We cannot process information without sin affecting it. That's how powerful sin is. And yet, we clearly have God's instructions and we clearly have a choice before us. Do we believe that what God says is true? Or is He a liar? When He tells us that He's given us the Holy Spirit to live within us and help us with our decisions, do we believe it? Or is He lying?

Of course God is not a liar, but unfortunately we act like He is when we don't believe that His ways are best for us. I'm going to let you mull that over for a while. I think each of us can apply this to our own lives in a myriad of ways, so I'll leave the personal application to you.

But keep in mind - Eve's actions revealed her perception of God. She knew Him, was in complete communion with Him, but still chose to believe that He was not being truthful with her. It had devastating consequences in her life as well as ours.

How do your perceptions of God affect your own life, positively or negatively?

Hmmm.....

Perception

Do you remember the controversy about this 18 year old, South African runner in 2009? Her gender was in question after she won the 800 meter world title. Apparently, she was so impressive, yet not overly feminine, that they subjected her to testing to make sure she was a female and not a hermaphrodite. (Another long story...)

Now, this is not going to be a post about Caster Semenya but about perceptions. There are people that looked at this runner, judged her appearance and her performance, and built a perception of her that ended up being false. But this perception caused them to act in a certain way towards her.

We see this all the time and truth be told, we act on our perceptions as much as the next guy. Sometimes our perceptions end up being accurate, but sometimes they are not. And boy, are perceptions hard to change! I have this perception about the texture of fish in my mouth and I've got to tell you, if I don't start to gag at the thought of eating fish...well, it's my perception and I'm sticking with it!

Our perceptions of God affect our relationship with Him and unfortunately, often times our perceptions are wrong. But once we have a perception, they are really hard to change. Is God an angry judge? Or is He a gray-haired, tired old man, bored on a throne in heaven? Is He a loving Father or is He a legalistic, demanding Lord who delights in pouring out His wrath? Is He patient or is He uninvolved? Is He a buddy riding along in the passenger seat of life, or is He the Almighty Creator of the universe?

If man's perception of God affects his relationship with Him, so does his perception of the Word. I had a friend tell me recently that his adult son can't reconcile the angry, judgmental God of the Old Testament with the loving Jesus of the New. What would you say to this man? What is his perception of God? How can God be both?

It all comes down to this: we must enlarge our view of God and we must shrink our view of ourselves. As John the Baptist put it, He must increase, I must decrease. Too often we want to look at God through the lens of our personal experience rather than look at our lives through the lens of God's Word. Two totally different perception building perspectives.

Study the Word to know Him, not to find yourself. Seek His face. Learn His ways. In doing this, you might find out that your perception of God is not accurate. I'll wager that your perception of yourself is out of whack, as well.

One day we will see Him face to face and perception will become reality. But until then, I will not settle for a simple perception based on my own weaknesses - I will build my perceptions of God from His Word through a life long journey of knowing Him.

The Calm Before the Storm

There is a storm on its way to western Michigan today.

They say it's a big one and it feels like it's coming, but until it arrives, we don't really know how bad it will be. I am looking forward to watching this storm come across the lake, however, in light of the potential damage, I am cautious to say that I am looking forward to a storm of this magnitude.

Jesus knew exactly what is going to happen before He returns, and He soberly and carefully laid out what to look for in His teaching on the Mount of Olives. Unlike the wind storm that is coming our way today, Jesus' words from Matthew 24 tell us exactly how bad it is going to be:

"Many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another..."

"Most people's love will grow cold..."

"But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved..."

"When you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place..."

"For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now..."

"Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved..."

"False Christs will arise and show great wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, the elect..."

"Behold, I have told you in advance..."

Jesus' warning is not like the meteorologist's warning. He knew for sure what would happen and He warned us "in advance."

Last night, as Dave and I watched the weather report, we both felt uneasy and Dave got out of bed, took all the deck furniture off our deck and put it into the garage. Now, nothing may happen today, but there was a recommendation to remove anything that could become a projectile from your lawn. The warning was enough to get my husband out of bed, even though the outcome is unsure.

The outcome of the last days is not unsure. We are barreling headfirst into a time of great persecution and tribulation, and Jesus Himself warned us about it.

So, what are we going to do in response? Should we sit on this warning and not tell anyone? Should we keep it to ourselves? Or is this warning somehow connected to the great hope of the church?

There is a great storm on the horizon and after it passes through, life here on earth will never be the same.

Are you ready for the storm?

Doctrine

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, or correction, for instruction in righteousness..." II Timothy 3:16

"Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers." I Timothy 4:16

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." II Timothy 4:3

Question of the Day: Is doctrine divisive?

No, sin is divisive. That's why we have so many denominations with so many different beliefs - because man in his sinfulness divides.

Dave was teaching on the doctrine of the church recently and he was talking about the local church versus the universal church. He said that in the universal church, there are no doctrinal divides. This made me think - actually it made me daydream about what heaven will be like, when sin is no more and we can see clearly and understand truth without sinful, fleshly distortion. What a day that will be!

Unfortunately, I feel that the study of doctrine is becoming less and less important in the church today because of the divisiveness it causes. Instead of promoting unity in truth, the church has decided it is better not to discuss and "argue," so unity in ignorance is more loving than strong doctrinal stands.

Is doctrine really not that important? Should we sacrifice doctrine for the sake of love?

Well, obviously it is important because doctrine is equal to truth. But rather than expound on it, I am going to post a link that does a better job than I could...

http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/doctrine/idoctrin.htm

Enjoy...