A to Z Challenge: V is for View

A to Z Challenge:  V is for the View from Inside

It occurs to me that all of us have a view from inside from which we look out, which no one else can see.  As I reach out to you, you see a certain part of me as you look out from the inside of you.  Both of us have different views from which we look.  What you see may be what you get but it is far from what you may perceive to be there.  No one but you and God can get inside of you.

I foolishly operate in the world assuming others come at it knowing and understanding the same things I do though perhaps choosing to think differently.  The fact is there is no one, not one person in the whole wide world that has the same view from inside that I have or that you have.  Even if we had the same experiences, the same home, the same everything, our interaction with those things would have impacted the view from inside differently, like the way we see an elephant in the center of the room differently depending on the perspective of where we stand.  We all have our own view from inside.

 That said, that view of and from inside is affected by a belief system, a worldview which influences our view from inside and our interaction with the world.  Most of us don’t live congruent lives with our belief systems.  We might say we are Christians, but we do things that are inconsistent with how God calls us to live.  We may say we are atheists, evolutionists, Muslims, Hindus, Pagans, nothing at all, but whatever we claim, we live in such a way that borrows from other worldviews to some degree, and we respond to the world in disharmony with our stated beliefs without even thinking about it most of the time.  

Why is that?  If we truly believe what we say we believe, why are our lives and our worldviews not consistent?  For some it may just be a matter of it isn’t important.  It doesn’t matter.  Yet shouldn’t it?  Can we live at peace with ourselves or with others, can we know ourselves, can we grow, thrive, think about the big questions, if we are incongruous with our belief system, with what we hold as truth?  More questions abound.

Since we are the only one who can enter our own land of inside, we are the only ones who can clean it up.  Others outside can give us tips, can tell us what worked for them, but ultimately they can only direct.  They cannot come inside.  There is One Who can join us in our land to know us fully and better than we know ourselves.  There is One Who can help us solve problems we can’t solve ourselves, Who can enter in and clean up with a sweeping wind that clears away the debris.  There is only One Who can enter with omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence to have a desirable, purifying, enhancing impact on our land inside to help us improve the view.  

Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.  2 Timothy 1:13-14 (NASB)

I am glad I have let Him in to walk with me and be the King of my land.  With Him here, it is becoming a better place to be all the time.  I am learning how to live more congruently with who I am.  I believe what I believe because I believe it is truth.  It isn’t blind faith, but it IS faith, faith that is supported by concrete evidence, faith that is consistent, and faith that is congruent with the character of God.  Even if my life may not be totally aligned with who I want to be or should be, God doesn’t have that issue.  He is congruous even if I don’t always understand Him.  How can I, finite being that I am, fully understand God in His fullness?  I am not omni anything!  But I can walk with Him Who is the light, for He lives!  He clears up the view from inside, and I hope into inside as well.

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”  John 8:12 (NASB) 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14 

A to Z Challenge