What Defines You?

Oh, how we think we know it all. We think we have it all figured out. Buy a Mercedes, live in a condo on the beach, make a bunch a money, and life is good. We think these things or anything the world has to offer will give us joy and peace and the life we’ve always wanted to live; boy, was I wrong. I’m just glad that at 23, I didn’t continue to waste my whole life pursuing these things. The funny thing is, it’s never enough. I remember when I first bought my benz; I thought, “Now I’m livin’”. Not long after that, I was looking at another car to buy. Well, I drove a Mercedes now, so I had to have the address to match. So now, I lease a condo on the beach. Not long after that, I’m looking to lease a bigger condo on the beach. Watches. I was addicted to them. Sunglasses? Only had about ten of um that all looked the same. And where do you drive a Mercedes, while wearing an expensive watch and sunglasses, but to the best restaurants in town. I was pathetic. It took me about 2 years to realize, that no matter how much I bought, it would never be enough! Talk about a slow learner.

I just wasn’t satisfied. So I took on a different approach to life. An approach that said, “The things in this world will all fade away, but only if I have Jesus will it be worth the ride.”
I wasn’t into this “Jesus stuff” early on because ‘religion’ taught me that I should be poor. Naturally, I didn’t have the desire to be poor, so I just went to church on Sunday’s because that’s what I always did, and lived how I felt like living the rest of the week. Not sure who I thought I was fooling, but I thought I was good at it. All I know, is that through all of my mess, Jesus found me. How, or why evades me to this day but I’m really glad He did.

Reading the Bible taught me that my life is like a bank account, and I was spiritually bankrupt. On the outside I was livin’, but on the inside, it was as if I was broke. Why? Well, since I was always wanting the next best thing, I put myself in this perpetual state of need, which was just like being poor. But, it was actually this state of spiritual desolation that opened my eyes to what really mattered in life, which was the state of the inner man.

I have an account on Facebook and one of the profile questions is, “Religious Views?” My answer is that religion is pointless. Jesus brought a government.

Religion didn’t change me; in fact, too many people die in the name of Christianity, the religion. Don’t believe that? Look at the Crusades back in history, the Inquisition, what about the KKK who claimed to have Christian beliefs?! And we wonder why the vast majority of our generation doesn’t want anything to do with church. That’s why all religion is pointless, even the ones that seem peaceable. All because religion is a flawed institution created by man [because nothing a man creates is perfect], trying to reach God.

But I ask, “Why try to reach God, when He already came down to earth through Jesus to die so that He could live in our hearts, our inner man?”

Religion is too difficult; too many rituals; too many customs; too many restrictions. I can barely remember where I park my car much less how many times I’m supposed to hail Mary. I think God knew life was already complicated, that’s why He sent Jesus to bring us a government, not a religion.

Isaiah 9:6
6 For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

We are all citizens of some country, living under some form of government. The government gives us the law we are to live by, the consequences of breaking these laws, but also the benefits of living by them. However, because all institutions created by man are flawed in some way, God gave us a new government to live under, which came on the shoulders of Jesus. This government is not focused on the things we do as much as it is focused on the motives behind the things we do. A lot of people make big donations to be seen, while others give to the homeless and no one knows about it. Which one of them do you think Jesus would be pleased with?

It’s just that simple. My life has changed from being focused on outward appearances, to inward motives. Only a life ruled by the inward government of Jesus is a fulfilled life. Sure, I still drive a nice car, and wear a nice watch, but these things come and go; they don’t define me. I am defined by my motives which are governed according to my relationship with Jesus.

What defines you?

Wrong Again

Boy, do we have Jesus all wrong. We often see pictures of a feminine, long haired, pink lipped guy petting a lamb-not exactly our idea of a real man’s man. We often perceive Jesus to be passive, always smiling, always playing in the fields with children, and on top of all this, we label Him, “soft”, because of His “turn the other cheek” speech.

I’m sorry, but that aint who Jesus is. Jesus was a rough neck. Who else could face an angry mob with stones in their hands and cause all of them to drop their stones? A sissy? Lol. As one of my Jamaican friends say, “Ya mussie mad bwoy.” Jesus was straight up gangsta. No? Who else would show up in a temple and start kicking and beating people and turning over tables because they were disgracing His Father’s house? A soft bwoy? Lol. Jesus was rugged. To get from place to place he didn’t have some luxurious caravan with the finest camels and horses-He walked! We Bahamians would say, “He was a foot soldier”, or “He foot it out”. And not on paved streets, more like across mountains, and dry desserts. Now tell me what kinda’ punk could make those journeys?

Instead having an opinion on who the Savior of the World is, maybe we should just ask Him! He answered me, I’m sure He’ll answer you.

Rough Day?

Wow. I’d have to say today was rough. No, I wasn’t fired, no, I didn’t catch all red lights, and no, I didn’t have trouble finding a parking spot. I didn’t say today was rough as if to imply that the world owes me something, because truthfully speaking I deserve nothing I have, and anything I may have has been given to me by God. I didn’t say today was rough because plans didn’t go as anticipated, though, it didn’t go as anticipated. I also didn’t say today was rough because I may have been embarrassed, though I was a little.

When I think about it, I can be thankful for my job, a car so that I can have the occasional red light to complain about, the multitude of parking spots even if they are far away from where I have to go; I can be thankful for the blessings of God in my life that I do not deserve, I can be thankful that though my plans didn’t go as anticipated, there’s always a “Plan B” that ends up better than “Plan A”, and I can thank God that when I am embarrassed for whatever reason, I am learning how to be humbled and that I’m able to write about it, despite what anyone may think of me.

Ha, today was still rough.

I would love to tell you that I remain thankful throughout the day, everyday, but the truth is I fall way short. I don’t even think I hit the lowest mark on the scale. I mean, how can I think about being thankful when everything is just going wrong! How do I find the ‘ray of light’ in a dark place? How do I get to the other side of the wall if my back’s against it?

Today was just rough.

Why was today rough? Well, how was your day? So so? Good? Great? Well, I’ve realized that everyday is a good day, and when those days come when I might not think so, it’s usually because I have too much focus on myself.

So, do you have an idea about why today was just rough? Well, simply because my focus was on ‘me’.

Circumstances are never perfect, but that’s only because our definition of ‘perfect’ is ‘my personal pleasure’. How good is my life? What am I going to eat for dinner? What kind of car must I drive? How do I get rich? This has become our focus. This is our pleasure. So, because our circumstances don’t always give us these ‘pleasures’, we say what I’ve been saying all day: “Today was rough.”

Today was rough for me because I made a decision to focus on my needs and how ‘I’ was going to satisfy them. When I failed today I wasn’t shouting, “Every day is a good day!” I wanted to shout a few other things, but then I’d be writing another blog entry after this one. But my point here is that I’m going to continue to have “rough days” until I change my definition of ‘perfect’ or better yet, what gives me pleasure.

I understand that I need things in life to live, so it would be foolish to think that food isn’t important, or clothes or making money to live. However, Jesus said it Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to us.” Righteousness simply means ‘right alignment’ so if my definition of ‘perfect’ isn’t in right alignment with Jesus’ definition of ‘perfect’, then I have the wrong focus in life. No matter how good a thing may be, if my primary focus is my job, school, money, even another person [ because Matthew 10:37 says, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.” That is, father, mother, sister, brother, wife, husband…you get the point.] my focus inst Jesus’ focus.

So what was Jesus’ focus if it wasn’t personal pleasure? Well, He made it pretty clear for us in John 17:23:

“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the
world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved
Me.”

Jesus’ focus here was relationship, love and unity, all for the glory of God, that the world may know He loves them. Our circumstances can be perfect as long as ‘perfect’ means bringing glory to God. If we make our focus relationship with Him, love for people and unity against evil, then our circumstances will mean very little to us apart from bringing Glory to God. Make the decision to bring glory to God; He promises to add everything else to us.

Oh, if you have a question, you can email me at quincyrolle@gmail.com.

Focus

A friend of mine is going through a pretty tough time; tough in every sense of the word. So tough in fact, even her facial features have changed. She doesn’t look or act like the person I know her to be; simply put, she’s in a pit. I’ve talked to her, shared in her pain with her, but exactly what do you tell someone who’s eyes tell a story of desolation; a story of grief; a story of sleepless nights.

In a previous blog I wrote, “The eyes are truly the windows of the soul, for the absence of light leaves the heart empty, desolate and cold…”

Have you ever seen eyes of desolation? If you have, then you know what darkness looks like. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:22 that the eye is the lamp of the body. But, because it is our hearts that control the way we see things, that very lamp can become darkened.

I will tell you though, I’ve noticed something by observing my friend, and that something is simply this: Anytime you decide to do something for God, the powers of darkness’ new focus is to bring frustration and confusion into your life. See, satan can’t stop us from doing anything, because the Bible tells us that greater is He (Jesus) that is in us, than he (satan) that is in the world. BUT, what satan is very good at is deception; as you can tell, nothing has changed with him since the Garden of Eden. Because satan knows he can’t directly stop us from finding the will of God, he makes it his life’s ambition to get our focus off of God, and onto our circumstances. If satan can accomplish this in our lives, he has done his job of being a deceiver.

Satan will use your bills that are due, he will cause you to hear something totally different than what your friend sincerely meant it to mean, he will try to stress you out at work, he will even try to give you road rage while going to church! If you can become frustrated enough about what’s going on in your life, you would have removed your focus off of Jesus. Tell me, is it possible to focus both your eyes on two different things? No. We can only focus on one thing at a time. Where we focus our attention, our heart tends to be. And Jesus told us that where our heart is, is also where we will find what’s most important to us. [Matthew 6:21]

You know, I took a break from my schedule to write this not because I’m trying to be consistent in updating my blog; I took the time to write this because a close friend’s hurt, just became our warning. Her trial became our lesson. Her pain became our medicine. It is my prayer that she finds comfort in Christ and His peace that passes all understanding, but I pray even more that as you read this blog you will make a conscious decision to not remove your focus off of Jesus, no matter what may come your way. It’s easily said, but it takes the help of the Holy Spirit to be accomplished; so ask Him for help. Life can hit us hard, and sometimes we let it flatten us. But Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-27 that if our foundation is in Him, when trials come, we will stand in spite of our circumstances. If our foundation is not in Christ however, when trials come, we will fall. According to these scriptures, it's really up to us where we place our focus. Either on His foundational Truths, or the circumstantial situations.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all will be added to us.” Prior to this statement, Jesus says in verse 27, “Which of you by worrying can add one day to his life?” Neither of us can add a day to our lives by worrying, so how about we listen to Jesus when He says focus on the kingdom, and He will take care of our needs? What do we have to lose but stress?

I’ve said what I felt pressed to say, but think about this: If you ask God for patience, will He give you patience or the opportunity to develop patience? If you ask God to remove hate from your heart, will He remove the hate or give you the opportunity to love? In the same way, remember that trials are nothing more than opportunities to build faith-faith to say that no matter what happens in my life, I will remain focused on Jesus. Be encouraged friends, we’re all in this together.

Rods and Cones

Was doing some reading and something I read drove me to find out more about the eye and how it reacts to light. Came across a Tom Henderson who is a High School science and physics teacher with a rather extensive background in science and education. FYI, that’s important because I don’t have a rather extensive background in science and education.

But anyway, Tom goes on to explain that the eye is sensitive to a narrow band of frequencies referred to as the visible light spectrum. He goes into wavelengths, and the colors that different parts of the wavelengths correspond to, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I’ll just refer to as “oh…, that’s…interesting.” But here is the part of Tom’s lesson that clicked:

“Light which enters the eye through the pupil ultimately strikes
the inside surface of the eye known as the retina. The retina is lined with a variety of light sensing cells known as rods and cones. While the rods on the retina are sensitive to the intensity of light, they cannot distinguish between light of different wavelengths. On the other hand, the cones are the color-sensing cells of the retina. When light of a given wavelength enters the eye and strikes the cones of the retina, a chemical reaction is activated which results in an electrical impulse being sent along nerves to the brain."

Ahh, it’s all coming back to me now (not really…). Thanks, Tom for teaching me what I should have paid attention to in high school. This science lesson will come in pretty handy in a little bit.

So, back to what I was reading in the first place.

In Matthew 6:22-23, Jesus said:

22The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your entire body will be full of light. 23But if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the very light in you [your [r]conscience] is darkened, how dense is that darkness! (Amplified Bible Translation)

Here, Jesus is demonstrating His knowledge in what is known today as Ophthalmology, or according to the Greek, “the science of the eye.” These two verses sparked so much interest in me that I read and re-read them for about 3 days now, attempting to extract all Truth from them. So, three days, two verses, and one too many caffeinated drinks later, I think I’ve discovered the answer: Yes, leave omniscience to God.

But what He did reveal to me clarified my understanding of the two verses. In trying to see what Jesus was saying, we have to first understand the nature of Jesus’ language. He primarily spoke in parables, and these two verses are exactly that. A parable is basically an earthly story with a heavenly or spiritual meaning. So, this parable is referring to the actual science of the eye (a little more on this later).

In the beginning of verse 22, Jesus says the eye is the lamp of the body, or in other words the eye is the light source of the body. No other part of the body is sensitive to light but the eye. We can’t smell, taste, hear or feel light; we may be able to feel the heat generated by a light source, but we can’t feel light. Therefore, it is through our eyes that light enters the body.

Jesus goes on to say that if your eye is ‘sound’, or according to the original Greek word ‘Haplous’, If your eye is ‘whole’ or ‘functional’ your entire body will be full of light. The Greek word used here for ‘light’ is ‘Photeinos’ which means ‘well lit’. This statement from Jesus simply means with an eye that works, you can take in everything you see around you; your body is taking in light. In verse 23,Jesus says, If your eye is unsound, ‘Poneros’ in the Greek, meaning ‘of a bad nature or condition’, ‘in a physical sense: diseased or blind’. So if your eye is ‘blind’, you whole body will be full of darkness. The Greek word used here for darkness is, ‘Skoteinos’, which means just that, ‘covered in darkness’. We experience this kind of darkness every time we fall asleep.

Now, here is where things start to get interesting. Jesus is now going to convey the point of his super mini lesson on how the eye works. (Tom’s lesson was good, but Jesus used less words. Winner.) In verse 23 Jesus said, “If then the very light in you…” The Greek word for ‘Light’ used here isn’t the same Greek word for ‘light’ used in verse 22. Here, the Greek work is, ‘Phos’ which means:

- Of truth and its knowledge, together with spiritual purity associated with it
- The power of understanding

The Greek words are different simply because Jesus is now making the spiritual application to his scientific explanation. So, the actual Greek words used for ‘light’ and ‘darkness’ from this point on will have spiritual references.

So, in essence, Jesus, in verse 23 says, “If the knowledge of truth and spiritual things” in you is darkened…, the Greek word used here for ‘darkened’ is ‘Skotos’, which actually means:

‘Of ignorance respecting divine things and human duties and the accompanying ungodliness and immorality, together with their consequent misery in hell’.

No pressure here guys.

So, to include the Greek references, Jesus concluded his parable by saying, ”If the knowledge of truth and spiritual things in you is ignored (by not living them out), then how great is YOUR ignorance!”

Phew! Break time. Be back in 5. You might want to take a minute or two and re-read those Greek terms. I’ll talk about how Tom’s lesson ties in when I get back.

And we’re back. (Yes, I did take a real break.)

Now, as we finish up, I’m going to attempt to relate the magnitude of what Jesus is really saying, because it’s pretty off the wall. See, Tom said that when light enters the eye it strikes the retina which has two specific light sensing cells known as rods and cones. Think of ‘rods’ as the carnal mind, and ‘cones’ as the conscience within your heart. Both are sensitive to ‘Phos’ (Greek word for light), or knowledge, but rods (the carnal mind) can’t distinguish the relationship between spiritual purity and the power of knowledge . Cones (the conscience of the heart) can, and when it does, it sets off a chemical reaction (called conviction) which sends electrical impulse to the brain for the body to react accordingly.

So here’s the deal. Jesus is letting us know that just because we have a knowledge of spiritual things, doesn’t mean we have a relationship with Him, and we all know that a relationship with Jesus is necessary to preserve our life with Him. This is why He basically said those who think they have the knowledge of Truth better be sure they are not ignorant to its real purpose, which is to simply practice what we preach.

The Holy Spirit dwells within our hearts, and thank God He does, because in the busyness of every day, we need His help to consistently distinguish the relationship between spiritual purity and the power of its knowledge.

3 Strikes

Well, here I go again. You know, its just not funny anymore. Before I could actually muster a little laugh and say, “Boy are you horrible.” Now I think I’m beyond that. I cant even bring myself to laugh. Usually I’m faced with the situation to either laugh or cry; this time I choose to cry.

The voice of God (His Holy Spirit) is so clear to me at times, yet in those times, if my needs are not being met, I don’t want to hear His voice. Earlier tonight I was driving to pick up a friend and I was just blasting music with all the windows down, like I usually do when I want to feel the music and the air. These times I now know can be dangerous, as it is a prime opportunity for my carnal mind to take advantage of me.

There was the first tug at the stop light. This guy in a big truck in the other lane asked me if he could come across when the light turned green and of course I signaled for him to go ahead. Well, because I was just vibin’ with the music and being seen, I totally forgot about that guy when the light turned green. I didn’t let him go ahead of me because I forgot about him. I saw his turning signal light to come over, and it didn’t hit me until I was already blocking him, what I had done. Of course the car behind was right up on me so the guy couldn’t get in, and he was going to miss his turn, but someone let him in I imagine, because I looked in the rear view mirror and saw him get over to the turning lane.

Then there was the second tug. This one lasted a bit longer. I was driving around lost! I knew where I was going, but it was as if I just couldnt focus long enough to chart the course in my mind. Though I was in an unfamiliar area, I just drove to familiar named streets and headed in what I thought was the right direction, but of course I was lost because I too busy talkin and vibin’ to this music. It might sound silly, but you have to understand that when the carnal mind is in control, it cares about one thing, glorifying the flesh. As long as that music was blasting, I was just vibin’ and talkin with my friend in the car. Then we pulled up to another stop light and we came to a street where we already were on, but instead, I turned off of that street miles back, only to make a half circle and much wasted time, and arrive back at the same street where I could have just stayed and gotten to the present intersection much, much sooner. I knew God was telling me to focus. Not this time God. Time was of the essence because we were on our way to a youth group meeting at church, and we were already late. I kept joking with my friend that the devil didn’t want us to be there. Sure, that was obvious, but that’s constant in any and everything we do to edify the spirit. There was something more. Something I was doing that was causing this. I was in the flesh tonight; it's just that simple.

Then there was the third tug. Boy, this one really sent the message home. After church my friend and I were walking out and we began chatting about a particular girl. Well we walked to my car, and the girl and her friends were about 20 feet behind us. Anyhow, we all got in our cars, and I reversed out of my spot, to pull next to her car before she could pull out. I don’t know who I thought I was, but whoever it was, became real embarrassed when she just reversed out of her spot, not even cracking her black tinted window. I even honked my horn. Not sure what was going on in her car, but it wasn’t like her to not stop and roll down the window. For a while I thought maybe she heard me talk to my friend about her so that’s why she didn’t stop or roll down her window. Either way, I was pretty embarrassed.

So, what did I learn tonight? Well, after I dropped my friend home, the first thing I did was shut off that stupid music, so I could hear myself think. I used the drive home to think and talk to God about tonight. It wasn’t one of those nights where I was excited to talk to God, but I was rather anxious to talk and hear from Him, even a rebuke. But something strange happened. All I ended up saying was thank you. I was just deeply moved to thank Him for afflicting my flesh. For causing it pain. For not letting it get away for not heeding His voice 3 times! I actually became glad that I didn’t get away tonight. Sure it hurt, it hurt like hell, but when I weighed it out, it was far better to afflict the flesh and preserve the soul than it would be to under false pretense council myself into not feeling pain for what I did. I know I’m forgiven, because my sin was nailed to the cross, like the song said on the radio tonight, so timely, but knowing Im forgiven doesn’t excuse what He forgave me for. I cant usurp God’s judgment. All I can pray for is mercy. Not a get out of jail free card, but rather the strength to go on in spite of what happened, knowing I am forgiven, and the slate is wiped clean.