CONVERTED FROM INTROVERSION
This people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn and I would heal them. Acts 28:27, N.I.V.
I'll never forget the first time I looked through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars! Instantly, everything looked miles away. It was especially startling since I had expected just the opposite. Later, I got to thinking about it: many people view life in a similar way. Their relationship with others evolve from a sheltered self-centeredness. Consequently, everything has a smallness about it.
It's like having part of your perception shut down. Instead of seeing more, your horizons become pinched. A kind of deafness sets in; you tend not to hear what others are really saying. The more people demand from you, the less capable you feel you are of giving. You become more and more protective of yourself until your heart seems frozen. What can be done to remedy this frustrating state of affairs? How can you learn to see things differently?
God has a way! We read Romans 12:2, "Let your minds be remade and your whole nature thus transformed" (N.E.B.). And how is this accomplished? "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed [transformed] into his likeness from one degree of glory to another" (2 Cor. 3:18, R.S.V.). We call it conversion.
Looking at life from a self-centered point of view is like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. "Beholding the glory of the Lord"--the character of God lived out in the Son--has a transforming effect on the mind. In the first place, the reasons for self-centeredness begin to drop away in light of the affirming message of God's acceptance and healing forgiveness. A larger view of life becomes evident as the pageantry of the great controversy between good and evil comes into focus. The eyes begin to see and the ears hear; the calloused heart is softened and revived.
How God desires to do this for each of us! But we are turned inward, afraid and self-protective. For this we are not condemned. As our text today conveys, it is only if we refuse to accept His healing that we are bound to live out the consequences of our spiritual introversion. For if we allow Him to, God will love us into wholeness!
This people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn and I would heal them. Acts 28:27, N.I.V.
I'll never forget the first time I looked through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars! Instantly, everything looked miles away. It was especially startling since I had expected just the opposite. Later, I got to thinking about it: many people view life in a similar way. Their relationship with others evolve from a sheltered self-centeredness. Consequently, everything has a smallness about it.
It's like having part of your perception shut down. Instead of seeing more, your horizons become pinched. A kind of deafness sets in; you tend not to hear what others are really saying. The more people demand from you, the less capable you feel you are of giving. You become more and more protective of yourself until your heart seems frozen. What can be done to remedy this frustrating state of affairs? How can you learn to see things differently?
God has a way! We read Romans 12:2, "Let your minds be remade and your whole nature thus transformed" (N.E.B.). And how is this accomplished? "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed [transformed] into his likeness from one degree of glory to another" (2 Cor. 3:18, R.S.V.). We call it conversion.
Looking at life from a self-centered point of view is like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. "Beholding the glory of the Lord"--the character of God lived out in the Son--has a transforming effect on the mind. In the first place, the reasons for self-centeredness begin to drop away in light of the affirming message of God's acceptance and healing forgiveness. A larger view of life becomes evident as the pageantry of the great controversy between good and evil comes into focus. The eyes begin to see and the ears hear; the calloused heart is softened and revived.
How God desires to do this for each of us! But we are turned inward, afraid and self-protective. For this we are not condemned. As our text today conveys, it is only if we refuse to accept His healing that we are bound to live out the consequences of our spiritual introversion. For if we allow Him to, God will love us into wholeness!
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