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Thu, 04/16/2009 - 08:00 — bob.hamp

What is Repentance? | Changing How You See

by Bob Hamp

Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." And the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

2 Kings 6:15–17

I stared again … sure it was a hoax. Changing my angle, moving first closer, then farther away, I still couldn’t see what everyone else was describing. All I could see was a page covered with swirly, abstract colors and forms. Everyone else told me they saw the space shuttle. This book, The Magic Eye, was full of these strange swirls, and to me, it appeared that page after page was filled with nonsensical, formless color—until I saw for the first time. I discovered it was not at all what I thought, and it was a completely new way of seeing.

We are so set in our ways of seeing the world that it often takes a jarring experience to get us to see what we could not see moments before. We are so affected by what we see, we seldom think about how we see. Our assumptions and our worldviews filter the information that gets into our minds, and we don’t even recognize the filter.

Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that he needed to be born again to participate in this thing called the kingdom. Nicodemus only had one way of seeing the word “born.” So he asked if men could enter their mother’s womb and be born a second time. He had not repented yet. He had not changed his way of seeing. So Jesus told him he could either see visible things like moving trees or “see” the force that moved the trees.

The way Jesus used the word “repentance” had everything to do with finding a new way to take in the world around us. If we change the way we see something, what we see and how we see it will forever be different. It is impossible to stay the same when we see everything in a new way.

1. Think of some things you read about regularly in the Bible but have never seen firsthand.

2. When the Bible says we walk in the flesh but our battle is not of the flesh, what does this mean?

3. How do women see things differently than you?

Comments

Mon, 04/20/2009 - 13:42 — al velez

How do women see things differently than you?

When my wife read in her bible... He will be wrapped in swaddling cloth and this will be a sign... She asked me why is this a sign? Wrapped in swaddling cloth? I had read that scripture at least 100 times and never caught that the sign was the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloth. I embarked on a mission to understand this sign. No one I knew had a definite answer. I found the answer in learning about Jewish custom. The manger was actually a hollowed stone block used to prepare lambs for the sacrafice. Prior to laying the lambs on the manger they were inspected for perfection using swaddling cloth. The lamb was wrapped in the cloth entirely. Then the cloth acted as a marker as it was pushed back in centimeters as the that area of the lamb was inspected. Only after the lamb was deemed without blemish was it placed on the manger for preparation for the sacrafice. Then it hit me. Thats the sign! Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloth and placed in a manger because He was the perfect, unblemised sacrafice for us! God is so perfect in all His ways! Im sure many know what this sign represents but I now know because of my wife's attention to detail and looking deeper and more patiently at things than I do.

Thu, 04/16/2009 - 13:37 — BryanShoemaker

Conditioned

That's a great picture Bob. I am reminded of the story of how circus elephants are trained to stay on a itty-bitty steak, with a itty-bitty rope, when they could easily break free.

When they are baby elephants, they are tied to a significant, immovable, post with a giant, unbreakable rope. They struggle against it, pulling and tugging and fighting until they give up. Once the spirit of the freedom has been broken, they can be tied with a little piece of rope because they "know" they can't break free.

How similar to the our conditioning of how we "see". We use words like "impossible", "amazing", "unbelievable", "out of the ordinary", because we're conditioned to see in the physical - through our own limitations.

Paul prays that God would open the eyes of the hearts of the Ephesians in Ephesians 1. That's my prayer, that my eyes would be opened to see how I've been conditioned to see in one way and to see differently - the way God wants me to see.

Thanks for the lesson...