Perception may not be everything but an impression given produces an impression believed, often based upon perceived images and actions rather than fact, producing something that can take on a life and spirit of its own. Try finding the end of that rope!Since mankind is much like that, the Lord’s counsel is to abstain from every form of evil—even the appearance of evil. It is true that God knows the heart and that relationship with Him is totally a heart matter, but He knows the human condition trusts in the appearance rather than the heart.
The human perception of God is usually something to which the individual can relate. For example, in the Bible angels appeared to men, as did the Lord Himself, but the response of those receiving the visitation did not rise to the grandeur of the visitation: His appearance was like lightening (Matthew 28:3); I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze (Ezekiel 40:30). Again, in the case of divine encounters, the human experience is limited to something human; both perception and result are usually something less. We discover two things: Amen. |