Let me start by saying that this is not a deep, theological study. I\u2019m simply being vulnerable and sharing one way I read and ponder the Bible. Here I simply read 1 Peter 1 in a few different translations and wrote any thoughts that came to me while reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you know who you are in Christ, no amount of persecution can stop you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God has never forgotten us. From His perspective we are all one with Him. Sometimes it takes time for us to realize this. But once we\u2019ve seen it, we can\u2019t unsee it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hope we have through Christ is meant to continually birth new life in us. It\u2019s not something we\u2019re waiting for in the afterlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve been so conditioned to think of our life in such a human way \u2013 our time on this earth in this body \u2013 rather than an eternal existence as one with God. This egocentric thought pattern puts us as the center of our world, therefore causing us to focus on our life here on earth and when that\u2019s over, our life in heaven. Instead, if we shift our thought processes to thinking of all creation as one with God, life never ends. I\u2019m struggling to put into words what is on the inside of me right now. Most Christians, at least in the western world, think of the \u2018last day, last time, end time, etc.,\u2019 as the end of the world as we know it and the judgment of God on every person \u2013 who is in and who is out. If all of creation is one with God, can there be an end time or last time as we\u2019ve perceived it? Life is eternal. We never cease to exist because God never ceases to exist. We always were because God always is. Life is all about relationship. God is everything and God is the relationship between everything. Our life didn\u2019t start at conception, it always was because God always is and we are one. A baby is just another piece of God being born into our physical world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we make God in our image we create the Matrix \u2013 a false reality, a system we are bound by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have so much to be thankful for even though we also may go through extremely painful times. Don\u2019t try to bury your pain as if it never existed. Pain is a very real part of our lives. Feel the pain and use it to draw closer in your relationship with God. When we remain open, Christ is continually revealed to us in new ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The entire Bible speaks of Christ. The Old Testament prophets tapped into the heart of God and spoke of Jesus long before He physically walked the earth. We all have the ability to tap into the heart of God. We all have the Holy Spirit. We are one. Our journey with Christ is all about a relationship, not merely a study of the Bible. It is good to read and study the Bible but be aware of your motivation. Are you cultivating your relationship or merely studying facts? Thomas Adams stated, \u201cThe Bible is to us what the star was to the wise men; but if we spend all our time in gazing upon it, observing its motions, and admiring its splendor, without being led to Christ by it, the use of it will be lost on us.\u201d Bruxy Cavey wrote, \u201cGod did not just write a book about how he works in history. God worked in history, and then people wrote a book about it. Our desire should not just be to connect with God\u2019s book but with God himself working in history. And this should include how he is working in our history today!\u201d Bruxy also wrote, \u201cThe Bible is like a treasure map that points the way to Jesus. But often Christians can treat the map as though it were the treasure itself, and when we do this, we miss the treasure completely.\u201d These writers, myself included, are in no way diminishing the Bible. It is a very important book that guides us to a far more important relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Christ is revealed to us, we wake up to reality \u2013 God\u2019s reality. We unplug from the Matrix and begin a journey of discovery of who we\u2019ve always been. The old system of doing and believing no longer applies to us. We awake to our true origin \u2013 one with God. As this becomes a reality, we notice our life changing piece by piece. Remember, change takes time. The self-centered ways we used to think and live begin to fade, and we become Christ-centered and others focused. Life is no longer about proving anything, being right or wrong. The path of life becomes more entwined with all of creation and with the notion of my life truly being for the benefit of others \u2013 all others. We no longer view our existence through the lens of \u2018us and them\u2019. We truly see everyone as one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus\u2019 death and resurrected life gave us access to the truth of our origin. We are not merely \u2018sinners saved by grace\u2019 but rather we are one with God, the source of all life. Jesus\u2019 blood shed on the cross was the red pill in The Matrix. The red pill enabled us to awake and unplug from the Matrix and resurrect to life. When we awaken to the reality of oneness, we see all of humanity as one and therefore our love extends to all. Remember, unity doesn\u2019t mean we all have to be identical. What a boring world that would be! Be excited about the differences you see in people. Different doesn\u2019t mean bad. Being different means we can all learn from one another. Embrace differences. If you find yourself interacting with people who are pretty similar to you, I\u2019d encourage you to reach out to people who are different than you. Build relationships with people who look, think, and believe different. Don\u2019t try to change them so they think like you. Learn from them. If this is a struggle for you, ask yourself why and be honest in your answer. Condition yourself to see the beauty in people because there is beauty in everyone!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Let me start by saying that this is not a deep, theological study. I\u2019m simply being vulnerable and sharing one way I read and ponder the Bible. Here I simply read 1 Peter 1 in a few different translations and wrote any thoughts that came to me while reading. When you know who you are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":97,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/therainbowcentre.ca\/overtherainbow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/Robin.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therainbowcentre.ca\/overtherainbow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therainbowcentre.ca\/overtherainbow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therainbowcentre.ca\/overtherainbow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therainbowcentre.ca\/overtherainbow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therainbowcentre.ca\/overtherainbow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therainbowcentre.ca\/overtherainbow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223,"href":"https:\/\/therainbowcentre.ca\/overtherainbow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions\/223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therainbowcentre.ca\/overtherainbow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therainbowcentre.ca\/overtherainbow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therainbowcentre.ca\/overtherainbow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therainbowcentre.ca\/overtherainbow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}