Suspenders
Recently some forty year old “compromising” photographs of me resurfaced. Not only of me, but of the old band. Now when I say “compromising”, it is not what you may think. It has compromised my metaphysical thought processes.
A photograph is a frozen moment in time, a captured image. While the image is frozen in time, I am not. If I look at the photo, do I see who I am at that moment, or do I see all the connecting points from this moment to that one? Am I still the person in the image, or does the interpretation of the image change because of the person I have become. If I have become a different person, how can that moment frozen be me? Do you sense the metaphysical compromise?
Can I say, “I was, I am, I will be”? Or is that alone to be said of God? Is today the past’s future? Or is the past a memory, the future a dream, and today a gift: that’s why we call it the present?! Do you have biblical phrases ring in your mind: Jesus, the same yesterday, today and forever; I know the plans I have for you; I am the beginning and the end; God created man in his own image; the glory of Christ, who is God’s image. How about “Just as we have borne the image of the man made of dust, let us also bear the image of the heavenly man.” (1 Cor 15:49 ESV)
So I tell you this and testify to it in the Lord: Do not walk any longer as the Gentiles walk, in their futile way of thinking. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of their hearts. Because they have no sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality, with an ever-increasing desire to practice every kind of impurity. But you did not learn Christ in that way, if indeed you have heard of him and were taught in him (since the truth is in Jesus). As far as your former way of life is concerned, you were taught to take off the old self, which is corrupted by its deceitful desires, and to be renewed continually in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new self, which has been created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness. Therefore, after you put away lying, let each of you speak truthfully with your neighbor, because we are all members of one body. “Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. Do not give the Devil an opportunity. Let the one who has been stealing steal no longer. Instead, let him work hard doing what is good with his own hands, so that he has something to share with a person who is in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come from your mouths. Say only what is beneficial when there is a need to build up others, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of every kind of bitterness, rage, anger, quarreling, and slander, along with every kind of malice. Instead, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven us.
Therefore, be imitators of God as his dearly loved children. And walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+4%3A17-5%3A2&version=EHV>
I will leave you with this photograph. Let’s see what I think about it in forty years.
Christ’s Peace, Trust the Promises
Steve Skiver