June 30, 2015
Perception
I dusted off my King James
Bible (KJV) for my visit to the King James Bible Baptist Church. Right away I
was told the congregation had recently voted to change the church name to Bible
Baptist Church. One woman explained, “We’ve found that people turn away from
the name, “King James Bible” … they won’t even come through the door.” She went
on to say that the KJV remains their teaching text, but the title was simply
dropped from the church name. I think her observation is correct because even I,
out of respect for the church, exchanged my preferred NIV Bible for my old KJV.
I also anticipated an aging group of worshippers and was surprised to find that
of the 40 people in attendance there was a full spectrum of ages and the
elderly were actually in the minority. It is interesting how we are defined and
perceived by a name. “The disciples were called Christians first
at Antioch” (Acts 11:26b NIV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.” (Rev 2:17) I was stirred afresh when I put the import John’s culture perceived in names together with this idea that no one shall know the new name we are given with our eternal state. Like you have noted, “…we are defined and perceived by a name.” We also live in a disobedient, broken place of seeing dimly as in a mirror, today more than in John’s day, at least in regard to the import of a name.
-----A personality and character are made of all an individual’s decisions and reactions to the things that have happened to him, been expressed about him, and that he has done and even thought. The assembling of who we are is a highly reflective process. And we reflect much upon our names, both building into them highly personalized feelings and impressions and tailoring our thoughts, deeds, and behaviors somewhat according to how we perceive them.
-----So in this lonely world of miscommunication and widely varying perceptions, there is little guarantee that one name will mean the same thing to any two folks, although general perceptions are rather shared (how many Adolph’s and Jezebel’s do you know?) But when disorder, miscommunication, and all error of any sort has been eliminated, shared perception will be much less like nailing Jell-O to trees because communication will be perfected. Things will therefore mean much more. As will your new name. And only you will know it. That means our precious privacy will be preserved in heaven. We won’t float around like a bunch of transparent jellyfish. But most of all, it means God loves your individuality to the point that He wants to enjoy something specifically and completely individual right to the very core of every one of us welcomed into His blissful glory. I feel so loved.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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