Getting into Perspective

Well, after a few days of thinking and praying I've realized that I have had a growing desire to read God's word lately, specifically the letters of Paul in the New Testament. It actually started a few weeks ago when I was getting my relationship with God into perspective, I was praying a lot and asking for him to direct my life, it was then that I found myself conducting my own study on the book of Philipians and I've choosen to share what I've gotten out of it so far.

As Christians, and even as people, when we like something we want to know everything there is to know about it and if it means reading to find out the really cool stuff then we will generally do it. A desire to know God grows into a desire to know his word, the Bible, because it is his! It has to do with him, it talks about him and it shows what he has done for generations of other people that live in this very same world in a time that really wasn't all that long ago.

Philipians 1:1

Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

Ok, so freeze right here. Something that I've discovered is that you miss a lot of interesting things that tie into other things later if you simply skip around and read what you "want" to of the Bible, which leads to misunderstanding and discontent from a personal view, most because you miss a part of the message that is being presented. So right here in this verse we are introduced to the author of this letter, Paul and Timothy who are called bondservants of Jesus... A bondservant is a servant that has devoted his life to his master, this servant goes above and beyond the call of duty for his master because he "wants" to, at least that is the definition that I am familiar with.

So we can see from the first sentance that Paul and Timothy are "bondservants" of Christ, meaning that they love Jesus and they are proclaiming that they serve him with full devotion intending to offer their life to their Lord... Incredible. What if we could be that kind of servant to Christ? Serving him wholeheartedly, unwaveringly with all of our ability for every day of our life and finding joy in it, doing all of the above because we "want" to. That is the point that I want to get to, that is the place where I want to be in my relationship with God, that's where I hope to get with the prayer in my previous post entitled "A Silent Prayer from a Silent Servant"

The idea is not to do radical and wonderous things for God, because we are supposed to but rather that radical and wonderous things simply start to happen when we truly start to love God, because when we truly start to love God then he starts to use us to make great things happen.

Look at the next part of the verse: "To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons"

This tells us that Paul is addressing the letter to all the saints that live in a certain place......... along with the bishops and deacons? Bishops and Deacons are simply names for church leaders, members of the church that offer guidance and/or assistance in the form of prayer or advice to other members of the church.... this is interesting right here! If you've missed it then re-read the line again, this verse is implying that as a Christian we are considered "saints" because of the simple fact that there is no other party mentioned... and I'm assuming that he was writing to Christians of the Church.

This was a little startling when I first understood what I was reading thought to myself "I don't feel like a saint... I don't even know what a saint is..." so I went and looked it up a bit. A saint is simply a person that has set themselves aside for God, in this context, and dedicated their life to him so that in effect their life is no longer theirs to command but it belongs to God... because they love God... just because they love God... that is really similar to a bondservant.

So in other words you're either a Saint or ya ain't!

When we accept Christ as savior we set our life aside to belong to him, I know that I've looked at my life lately and what I see really doesn't look like it's been sanctified (set aside for God) in fact it looks like I am living for myself about 90% of the time. This is something that I'm praying to change, from the inside out and I've begun to see results.

This isn't the kind of relationship with God that anyone wants, what we want is a real and alive relationship with the God of the universe. I'm finding out more and more each day that everything falls back to loving God and understanding how he loves us, if we are to get any closer to devoting ourselves to God then we need to start truly and undeniably loving God, then our lives will follow accordingly.

So in one verse we have figured out what kind of a life that Paul and Timothy had commited themselves to in the way of Christ followers AND we see what the standard for being a Christian should be... and in the second verse we are shown are current status in the Kingdom of God as Christians:

Philipians 1:2

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Children of the Kingdom is a term that most people can recognize but do they really understand it? We as people get an earthly father regardless if we like him or not, some of us have never known our earthly fathers and others have had bad experiences with the term "father" but in this context Paul is asserting the fact that: if we are Christians, if we have sanctified our lives for God, if we have become bondservants of Christ... then God acknowledges us as blood relation. We gain an all loving and all powerful heavenly father because we want him to be our father, this means that we love him to the point that we want him to be family and we want him to be an active part of our lives because of who he is and how he has acted toward us. All of which can be seen in the Gospel and throughout the Bible.

This is what being a Christian means, it means an incredible love based relationship with God that can only be described as a father and son or a father and daughter relationship. I'll continue with my study in the next post but consider what being a Christian really means today, think about what exactly a "sucessful" Christian relationship with God seems to imply in the context of the two verses that I've brought up today.

Who are we dealing with?

BR here, just back and fresh from the challenge I issued yesterday; if you missed it I pulled up the most commonly memorized verse in the world and tried to focus on something that it tells us about God, the incredible love that he has for us.



All day yesterday, as often as I could possibly remember I tried to think of the way that God loves us and how it is so perfect in comparision to how I treat everyone as a reflection of my Lord. I not only fell short of the mark, I was flat on my face. God loves us so much more perfectly than we couldthink possible, can you even begin to imagine; your only child that you love, the joy of your life as a human parent but you love everyone else in the world so much that you are willing to deliver up that child to be tortured and killed by them so that they might live free from the bondage of sin...



Who are we dealing with?



The kind of love I've described is not only unheard of from a human perspective but impossible for anyone but God.



This brings something very interesting to my attention, we are supposed to be a reflection of this love to the world as best we can. I am such a bent reflection in this aspect that it isn't even funny, I judge people, I ignore strangers and I hardly ever go out of my way to do for others like Christ would want. I want to change this desperately and I believe change has begun

So I've been praying, for a renewed spirit much like King David prayed in the Psalms but mine goes something like this:

Lord, I know I've not been doing all the right things.
I know I haven't been showing the world your glory
Lord, I just feel like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle
Tell me what I need to do.

Make me the person you want me to be God,
Change my thoughts, my heart's way of feeling
Let my thoughts be likened unto yours
Let my actions follow what's underneath

I want to know you like never before
Let my relationship with you take leaps and bounds
Help me to understand your perfect love
and let the light shine through me

I implore you God, give your servant the means
use me, direct me and give me the opportunity
Let me walk like you want me to walk
In your ways and your love.

I'm starting to change from the inside out and my challenge for myself and my reader is now this, pray like I've prayed and want to be morelike God. Love God deeply and do everything to be like him, the rest will follow naturally...

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness

And all these things shall be added unto you

A Silent Prayer from a Silent Servant

How long Oh, God?

Shall I serve you in silence?
Timid and shallow, hanging on the fringe...
Caring for the scowl of the world,
When I know your faintest smile
Brings all crashing down.


I beg you savior, give me courage.
Make me bold and give me words.
I've read your desires and I've heard your commands,
Please give me your love so I can understand.


I don't want to be silent, not even one more day.
Please move in me, help me to follow your ways.
Lord I know I'm broken, but I want to know you more.
Lead me, guide me, work through me I beg you God.


So I can be silent, not one day more

Truly a servant, for my Lord.

This prayer comes from the heart of a Christian that knows their responsiblity of proclaiming Christ to the world but just like so many of us this Christian feels choked and unable to do the task set before him. I don't think it's easy for many of us; to just walk out and become an evangelist overnight but then again why is it so difficult?

Most people will boldy argue about politics, sports and even what kind of food they like; which is normal. Yet when it comes to Christ, I see so many people (including myself) that bottle up and want to pretend like they don't know him. So something I've really been struggling with is the obvious question, why are we willing to sit around and argue about my favorite football team or promote one politician over another while my convictions about the savior of the world remain quiet?

I've been praying with the same words and motives that you've seen in the above poem for a while because it really bugs me that I don't necessarily go out of my way to stand for God, but why?

If that isn't enough to keep you awake at night I don't know what is; you supposedly love and adore the almighty creator of time, space and the physical laws of this complex world yet you carry him around in your back pocket so that you can be identified with him when you want to be... wake up call! This isn't how it works, God is far to big for that... but that's a discussion for another post. I think the problem is that we've forgotten, as Christians, how to be excited for God and actually be in love with God.

Therein lies our problem, we have the commission given in the gospel and we know what we are supposed to do but the problem seems to be that we don't have the proper motive:

Mark 16:15

And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

What we as believers are lacking is Christ's mindset, which makes ministry almost impossible and actually quite empty. If we are to serve God and actually be the picture of Jesus that our generation sees then we need to first start in our hearts and learn how to love people, we need to learn how Jesus loves us. Once we can see how Jesus loves us only then can we actually be the reflection of Christ that we are meant to be, something full of love and life instead a hollow action.

If I actually have any readers, if this Bent Reflection is actually doing any good in the world I would like to issue this challenge that I am taking for myself today.

John 3:16

for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son; that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

The challenge I am taking today is to take the most common verse in the world and understand why it is so common, to understand all over again why that we are told this verse at the age of five. Take these bolded words literally and think about them, from your perspective or the perspective of your parents and understand what it is to give up your child, the center of your life as a human and not only let him be killed but tortured and spit upon by the people of this world in order so that they can live free from the bondage of sin. Let this idea of perfect love for you and me sink in... it's inhuman!

Something only God could do and that's why he did it. Just think about that for a while. How good of a reflection are we of that kind of love?

~An introduction and poem~

My name is bent reflection, BR for short, I suppose you could say that I'm the run of the mill person except for one simple thing: I've been affected by the most amazing truth that the world will ever know and I'm begining to see the world through the scope of that truth more and more every day.

What is this truth?

The Gospel; the simple, true and plain Gospel that is seen in the Bible.It has changed the world from the day it happened and it continues to change lives all around the world, every minute of every day... that's how I came to call myself "Bent Relfection" because it's how I realized that I am a fallen creation of a perfect God. I'm a bent reflection of what I was intended to be and the only way to unwarp myself is to let Christ turn me into a perfect reflection of himself, to walk in the Christian faith and serve God with all of my heart.

Anyways, make yourself at home but know this up front! God is at the center of my life and intertwined with anything that I have to say.

For today I'll give you a poem that I now title "the realization of a bent relfection"

How far can one person hope to see?

Why is perfect what we strive to be?

I know there's something better...

What if I could tell you the only sure way to get there?

Would you stop? Would you listen?

Oh, I hope... you see, it's my great commission.

From here to the ends of the earth, I walk to speak...

Not alone but with the one that has sent me...

'till hair greys, sight dulls and bones creak...

Will I ever proclaim the love of he who died and lives for me.