Put your glasses on

Listen here:  https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/26127170/put-your-glass...

People are anxious, casting about - yet so many of us are going it on our own, not turning to God. Why? Conversations are telling -- two in this Morning Briefing, and they provide a framework for us.

Let's go back to my exchange with my gym friend, Michael, the other day.

After commenting that 'truth is what he believes to be true' and 'there is no absolute truth', Michael then explained that he used to have a faith in God, but it had been years since then. [Your attention please - especially when discussing our faith in Jesus Christ , asking questions and then sincerely listening so as to understand the thinking of another is critical]

So, as Michael talked, I leaned in...what he was about to tell me had surely influenced where he was with God.

'Yeah, see I lost my son, and that changed things,' he said and looked out the window.

'Oh Michael, I'm so sorry.' ... 'What took him?' ... 'How old was he?'

'Diabetes,' he said, 'just 27. It was right after he graduated from law school.'

Michael didn't have other children, because he didn't want them growing up like him, one of seven kids, always trying to get some attention, 'feel the love' of his parents. A couple times he looked up and said, 'I was bad,' in regard to his first wife and the mother of his son. (I didn't ask about that)

Now I understood some of Michael's stiff-arming of God. He felt let down by Him and maybe some shame too. (This is why truth then had to become subjective and not objective for him; his disappointment with God led him to change his mind about the reality of God)

Circumstances, especially heartache and difficulties, often change and then re-form our view of the world. Things that happen to us impact how we make sense of this life, our view of God, of reality, and the hereafter--these comprise our "worldview" - the lenses through which we see the world and order our own personal lives. [Again, we are after Truth in our Morning Briefing expedition]

What is your worldview?  We’ve all got one . . .

I spoke of two elements in "When Truth Becomes Personal": https://conta.cc/3X2bWFe. Simply, worldview is our philosophy of life, and we live by it every day, whether or not we are aware of it. It is shaped and influenced by many things besides the aforementioned—upbringing, education, what we read and watch, including social media, opinions of friends and family and the culture in which we live.

The question I put before you today is this:

Through what lenses do you see the world?

Is your worldview a God-honoring one?

meaning it has been molded by God’s principles...

not man’s designs, and it is founded on TRUTH.

I pray that matters to you.

Every worldview, Christian or not, must deal with at least three basic questions:

1) Where did I come from? ORIGIN

2) Why am I here? PURPOSE

3) What comes after this (life)? ETERNITY

TRUTH: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1.1. Eternal God who created all that is, including you, is the place we begin. You, and every person you encounter today, (no matter how weird, rude or anxious), were created in the image of God, Genesis 1.26. Whether or not you see God as your Creator and the Source of all life versus your being here through random acts of nature makes a lot of difference. Friend, if your life is just random, meaning becomes elusive, and you might as well live for your pleasures. [we are seeing this all around us].

And purpose, Christian? Created by God for relationship with him, your purpose was planned by God long ago.3 Quite clearly then, whether or not you believe you were born with a purpose is significant to your predisposition to life.  

An eternity in Heaven, which Paul describes as absent from the body, present with the Lord,4 inevitably points us toward a need for redemption from our natural bent toward compromise.  Our salvation comes from one source alone: Jesus Christ, not a religion, not a church.  We take His words to heart,  “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me,” and we stand on those words. John 14.6. You see, Jesus did not just say, 'listen to Me, what I am telling you is the truth - no, He said, 'I am the Truth.'

That reminds me of another conversation. Many years ago, I went to pray for the healing of a woman fighting for her life--Stage 4 breast cancer. Before I left her home, I walked to the kitchen to bid a proper 'good night' to her husband. Joe caught me totally off guard when he spat, “You Christians are all alike.  You’re so narrow and arrogant saying Jesus is the only way to God.”  

Dang. I had gone to his home totally nervous to pray for his wife's healing - I had not done that kind of thing before! It had been a long day already, and in an effort to be cordial, I went to say 'good bye'. He pinned me to the floor. Could I answer him well? A bolt of energy and 'knowingness' went through me -- wake up and answer well. And by the way, Girl, up your game. Be ready to answer these accusations/questions/comments, because they are coming to you. And so I began to think, read, study, pray about truthful, but winsome, responses. That was more than 20 years ago now.

Joe was right—the way is narrow, but it is available to all. Jesus came for every man.

‘Is it intolerant to say that Jesus is the only way?’  Absolutely not.

Here’s the thing—when we believe that there are various or many ways to God, we believe in religious pluralism, that every religion provides an adequate means to God.

If you believe there are many ways to God, then you do not believe Jesus to have told the truth - either what he said of himself or what he taught.

The worldview of one who does not claim Jesus as the only way to God, devalues everything about Christianity and its truth claims.  And as for being narrow - any and every religion, including that of the atheist, claims to be true, otherwise the adherent would not believe it.

Worldview, satisfactory answers to these questions of meaning - nay, true answers - provide a solid rock on which we stand firm and prosper. When we see the world through the lenses of being the created and purposed for life with God now and forever ... it imbues our lives with significance and meaning! We've got to look through the right glasses!

This song... The Creed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzH5QkyDs8c. Yes and amen!

Yours for the kingdom,

Christine

PastorWoman.net

1 - What is Your Truth? https://conta.cc/46YRM2t

2 - John 14.6

3 - Ephesians 2.10

4 - 2 Corinthians 5.8