John 6:22-59 | What is the lesson for me today?

So much theology is influenced by perspective. It was those following Jesus that missed what Jesus was saying simply because they could not fathom the an alternative perspective. In fact, there have been many times I have missed important lessons from Scripture because I was willing to see from only one point of view. The one the followers came from was very naturalistic. They had lost a spiritual worldview. So when Jesus spoke in spiritual terms, they missed it. We may miss things in Scripture by way of our own presuppositions.

If one assumes the gifts of the Spirit have ceased, then there is nuance as to how the Holy Spirit interacts with the believer today. So the same, the one that assumes the gifts have continued will also face nuance in how the Holy Spirit interacts with the believer today. Both deal with the nuance but from entirely different views. When the two clash, they cannot fathom the other perspective so both are left perplexed. If we are not careful, we can do the same with the Bible.

Coming from a Nazarene background, free will was a major teaching point. When I went Bible College, I was faced with a lot who held firmly on the doctrine of Predestination. I was so caught up in my own view point that I would find myself debating Scripture in my own reading that I was missing crucial information. Take this for example:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
-Eph. 1:3-6

Rather than rejoicing in how the Lord has redeemed me in such incredible ways, I would argue against it. I would miss out on the blessing of seeing how the Lord chose me to be holy and without blame before Him in love. What a tragedy! I had to humble myself and be willing to look from a different perspective. My own presupposition hindered me. Now I can sit content seeing how Scripture lives in a tension between the arguments.

Let us live with such a humility that we are not studying Scripture simply to reinforce our view. Let us have humble eyes that look to see what the Lord is actually saying in the Word. I pray that we may grow more and more in all humility and unity through that.

What lesson are you taking for today?