Dogs are marvelous creatures. If a dog loves you, it is a total love, forever. They perceive life differently than we we do and I find this picture, with its play on words, quite funny. And it made me think: How do dogs look at the world? And, what about people? How do they look at things? More than just that, how do SPIRITUAL PEOPLE THINK ABOUT SPIRITUAL THINGS?
People have Hindsight
From Dictionary.com
Hindsight:
Noun recognition of the realities, possibilities, or requirements of a situation, event, decision etc., after its occurrence.
Acts 2 ( World English Bible )
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in your midst, even as you yourselves know,
23 him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;
24 whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
25 For David says concerning him,
‘I saw the Lord always before my face,
For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
26 Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced.
Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope;
27 because you will not leave my soul in Hades, *
neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.
28 You made known to me the ways of life.
You will make me full of gladness with your presence.’Psalm 16:8-11
29 “Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,
31 he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was his soul left in Hades, * nor did his flesh see decay.
32 This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.
33 Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear.
34 For David didn’t ascend into the heavens, but he says himself,
‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit by my right hand,
35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’Psalm 110:1
36 “Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”
40 With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.
The people hearing Peter’s sermon realized that what he said applied to them. They were guilty and they knew it. More than that they realized that they needed to do what they were told to do. Like then, people can still turn from sin and follow the path that leads to life. Those who do call themselves Christians.
People have Insight
From Dictionary.com
Insight: Noun
an instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing, especially through intuitive understanding
John 4 ( World English Bible )
1 Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
2 (although Jesus himself didn’t baptize, but his disciples),
3 he left Judea, and departed into Galilee.
4 He needed to pass through Samaria.
5 So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph.
6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. *
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "“Give me a drink.”"
8 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, "“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”"
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where then have you that living water?
12 Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered her, "“Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, "
14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”"
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, "“Go, call your husband, and come here.” "
17 The woman answered, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, "“You said well, ‘I have no husband,’ "
18 "for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”"
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, "“Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father. "
22 "You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. "
23 "But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers. "
24 "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”"
25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah comes, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, "“I am he, the one who speaks to you.”"
27 At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?”
28 So the woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and said to the people,
29 “Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?”
30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him.
31 In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But he said to them, "“I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”"
33 The disciples therefore said one to another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, "“My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. "
35 "Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already. "
36 "He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. "
37 "For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ "
38 "I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”"
39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I did.”
Unlike the Jews, this Samaritan woman was of a mixed race and therefore the Jews would have nothing to do with her, but Jesus would. And she responded to Jesus’ conversation with her by realizing who he really was and telling others about him. She overcame her own misgivings about Jews and gladly told others about this special man. Today, even thousands of years later, Christians are still doing the same thing; for we have a king who has given us marching orders and we must obey (Matthew 28:18ff.).
People have Foresight
From Dictionary.com
Foresight: noun
1. Care or provision for the future; provident care; prudence.
2. The act or power of foreseeing; prevision; prescience.
an act of looking forward.
3. knowledge or insight gained by or as by looking forward; a view of the future.
2 Timothy 4 ( World English Bible )
1 I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom:
2 preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with all patience and teaching.
3 For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts;
4 and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables.
5 But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
6 For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come.
7 I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.
8 From now on, there is stored up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.
2 Timothy was the last letter written by Paul and in chapter 4 he gives his young protege Timothy this parting exhortation. Paul realizes he does not have long to live and wants to complete his ministry before he dies. He has confidence in the future and the foresight to remain faithful to God and urge others to do the same. I pray that we all will recognize the transient nature of life and do what we must to fulfill our ministry – and do it with JOY!