Changes in Perception

Friday, June 12, 2009. Human perception is an interesting phenomenon. We go through our day - and our feelings, our way in which we see the world, our motivation, our courage, our self-perception is strongly influenced by various little and larger things in our immediate environment.

Sometimes one sentence by one single person can change our whole day. If someone says: you are a beautiful woman - that can make a difference. Or if someone says: I admire your talent in music! Or: Wow, you are really good in organization! This effect also works in the negative direction: if someone puts you down by some careless words or even deliberately, this can corrupt your mood and the atmosphere of your whole day.

The bible knows about the influence of words on our perception. We are adviced to take words serious. We are told to be very careful with the things we say to other people. Careless words are not adequate for someone living in the spirit of Jesus. We need to speak filled with his spirit, words which are full of truth, courage, care, consideration and solidarity. Words which open a good future, just by the sentence we say. That is not always easy and we need to train it, need to develop a good culture of speech! It is not something we would learn in one day or even in one month.

Our words reflect our inner state - and if we are struggling with God and struggling with ourselves, our words will tell. So the key point is not to say words which we do not believe, just to appear full of peace if we are not. Being a hypocrite will only cause a lot of damage, but will not help anyone. We need to change our inner state, need to through out the bad things and grow good things in our mind and our soul. That will then change our perception and will change our words.

One key tool to change is the bible itself. Listening to Jesus will change our perception and will change us when we listen seriously. He is able to perform the wonder of a changed existence in everyone of us. He is able to make us children of God, though we are far away from God with many things in our life. It is absolutely fantastic when God changes our perception. Suddenly our world becomes different. There are an uncountable number of possibilities, new options which we never saw before. Suddenly the grass is more green, the sun brighter, the thunder darker and everything amazing and full of wonders. [R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]

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