What’s In a name?

Have you seen the movie Avatar? Randy brought it home on DVD a month or two ago. I wasn’t that interested in seeing it, but I watched it with him. Now, as a follower of Christ and one who holds to the teachings of the Bible, I see the movie as fantasy and that is all; fantasy with cool computer graphics. I reject the overtones of the religious “stew” which apparently is behind the philosophy of the movie (similarly with Star Wars). I can enjoy it without being tricked by its false premises.

One of the things I liked from the movie is that the blue people (ok, Na’Vi; I had to look it up to get some facts straight) used a special greeting: “I see you”.  Though in the movie its meaning had to do with “the god in me sees the god in you”,  again, unlike some who are pantheistic or animistic or any other kind of “istic”, I reject the concept that you and I are “god” in the sense some religions believe we are (have I made enough disclaimers?).

What I like about the greeting “I see you” is the idea that one can know another intimately. “I see you” indicates the one seeing has an intimate knowledge of the person seen. We know God can say of us “I see you” and mean He truly sees us, for He is All Knowing and sees into our very heart (Jeremiah 17:9, 10).  We cannot see into another’s heart as God can, but we can grow in our understanding of who another person is. And we can grow in our understanding of who God is. We can learn His heart by immersing ourselves in His Word, the Bible, putting its truths into practice in our lives, and tuning our ear to obey the voice of the Spirit of God. This is what Peter meant by “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18). We can become intimate friends with Jesus; we “see” Him. And seeing Him, we see God (John 14:9).

Oswald Chambers said, “To be born again means I see Jesus....All spiritual history must have a personal knowledge for its bedrock” (My Utmost for His Highest, August 15). The new birth is necessary to perceive God’s rule, to “see” Jesus, to perceive His rule in the universe and in our lives. Chambers says that in the new birth we are given God’s nature and then we can recognize, “see”, God’s rule in the world. Once we begin to see Jesus with these new eyes, we begin to hear with ‘ears that hear’, that is, with a will that obeys what He says.

So anyway, I was thinking about a title, a name, for a book I am writing. This book will be a compilation of short articles I’ve written for Mustard Seeds over the past …hmm, many, many years. (This is a different book from the one I am writing on cancer and suffering.) I am in the process of rewriting these articles now. I have most of them on my computer, but found an inch thick stack of paper copies I hope to scan into my computer. Otherwise I will be typing them in one by one (sigh, says the world’s worst typist).

I’ve been referring generally to this book-to-be as a devotional, but I am not sure if that is the best way to consider it. Then again, it may be just that. I think it fits more with writings which challenge than comfort. I personally prefer the type of writer who says things based in scripture which tend to make me think, that challenge my complacencies, rather than those which pet and pamper.

I See You: Living face to face with Jesus

A possible title for a devotional type book, grounded in scripture, one which challenges the readers to a more intimate relationship with Jesus, one in which they really “see” Jesus.

When we start to really see Jesus, growing in our knowledge of Him, we begin to see the world differently. We begin to live our lives differently, more in line with what He teaches in the Word.

A book title will go through numerous changes before it is ever put on the cover of a book. This is just one thought…and my thoughts behind it.

What do you think?