You See What You Want To…

You may hear regularly that we are bombarded with information and advertisements. However marketers know that you see what you want to. If you set up a website and want to advertise you find out that the banner ads on a lot of sites are becoming irrelevant because they are seen by individuals as background, unless it is something they are looking for. You will also learn that the most seen spot on a webpage is the upper left hand corner, so all of your important items need to be in that area. This is because the majority people who surf the web at work do it with a minimized widow. Another question is; do you see the gas station or fast food signs when you drive down a busy street or do you ignore them, unless you are hungry or in need of gas?

By now I hope you are starting to see where I am coming from. In your life you see and hear exactly what you want to. If you believe your boss is a jerk you will see everything he or she does as a behavior leading you to know for sure that you are right. If you believe a certain stereotype about another race, everything you see or hear will steer you toward the deepening of that belief. If you believe all poor people are lazy then that is what you will focus on. What I want you to understand is that you are called not to have these general beliefs about anyone. If you are conservative not all liberal bible scholars are going to hell. Likewise if you are liberal you should not think that all conservative bible scholars are dumb.

We are called to love not our friends but also our enemies. Every day I hear Christians say they hate the leaders in congress, or hate the president (present or former you chose). We can not do that we must love our leaders whether we agree with them or not. 1 Corinthians 13 says:

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

One of the first steps you must take is freeing yourself of beliefs of other people and cultures that are destructive to your growth as a Christian. We have become so caught up in the political name calling we see each night on our news or hear on our radios that we have carried it into our Christian churches and it must stop. Defend your message, but you must still love the other messenger. When a Christian makes a derogatory statement about someone they disagree with they hurt the church as a whole not the person they are attacking.

We have been called to a higher standard and we have lost site of that. Change the way you think and you can change the way you see things. Paul tells us this in Romans 12

2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Love your neighbor as yourself,

Steve