Can Anything Good Come From There?

"Nazareth!" exclaimed Nathanael. "Can anything good come from there?" "Just come and see for yourself," Philip said (John 1:46, NLT).

I have frequent opportunities to listen to people who have severed their relationship with one another. Each person formulates specific beliefs and attitudes about one another based on their experience. It is often difficult for either individual to find anything good out of their experience with one another. Healing begins when the individual moves away from what they have formulated to be the reality of the situation and owns their part in the relationship along with the need of forgiveness and peace.

Whether we want to admit it or not, our personal reality is not the same thing as truth. We define our reality from our perception and experience.

John included a great line in his introduction of Christ: "Can anything good come from there?"
It would seem that Nathanael perceived the Nazareth community as unable to produce any good. In our culture and era, we might think that Nathanael seemed sarcastic. Perhaps; however, the place where someone came from in the ancient era was part of their identity. In some ways we do that in today's world . . . we identify certain characteristics of a person that lives in a certain region, community; works in a particular organization; attends a specific school: and the list goes on . . . In other words, our perspective often begins to develop before we know the truth about the person.

Nathanael's perspective changed when he encountered Christ.

Take time to evaluate your perspective:
Do you see through your personal beliefs and attitudes?
Does your perspective change when you focus on Christ first?
Look for the Truth.

Learning with you to focus on Christ first,
Shalom,
Kerrie
(All devotions written by Kerrie Palmer ©2008 All Rights Reserved)