Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Perception, Part I

Anais Nin, avant-garde novelist, explained once, "It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it."


I remember reading that for the first time. The power of perception is undeniable. Perception anymore is truth...more so than reality itself. Yet, Nin is correct in that we cease to see the familiar. We drive down the same roads. We eat at the same restuarants. We watch the same shows. And sooner than later they all become old hat. We either live in the old or begin searching for something new, which in the end only resembles the old that we thought we left behind.


But what if the old, the ordinary, has more to offer and we simply do not see it. When looking out of a Chicago hotel window, D.L. Moody asked his minister companions what they saw. Most of them said cars, buildings, people scurring around obsorbed in their own busy lives. Moody said when he looks out that window he see losts souls in need of a Savior. Perception makes all the difference, seeing new and powerful meanings in the ordinary.


Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that those who are in Jesus are made into something altogether new. However, when I came to a crisis moment in my life and was confronted with the scandelous message of Jesus, I made the descision to give my life to Him, follow Him, live for Him, nevertheless I found that I was still the same David. I had no actual physical change, nothing that could be seen with the eyes. So what was this new transformation that Paul was speaking of?


I believe it has to do with perception. Jesus Christ comes to make the ordinary extraordinary. When we are in Christ, our eyes are opened to the world for the first time. Like Morpheous's answer to Neo's question, "Why do my eyes hurt," after he is dramatically rescued from the virutal world he was trapped in; "Beacuse you have never used them before." Jesus changed my perception. He opened my eyes to Truth. For the first time in my life, I was truly "seeing."


For those who are yet to be in Jesus Chirst (Romans 10:9), I challenge you to seriously think about the transfomational power He alone holds.

Want to see for the first time? Want a new perception of what is real? Think about it...

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