Character

I have been captivated with close-up photography ever since I got my first single lens reflex camera in 1970, just before I started dating my future wife.  There is just something special about getting down close and personal with the subject in front of one’s camera lens.  While in high school and junior college, I took every photography class that I possibly could. 

For those first three years of Piper’s and my relationship, we spent countless hours, on my days off from work, driving throughout our local county, looking for unique and/or out-of-the-way places where I could find subject matter for all the various photo projects that were assigned in my classes.

I figure that Piper was either extremely patient or hopelessly in love with me during those hours spent in the car, hiking along creek beds, up and down mountain trails or sloshing in the tide pools at Bodega Bay, around an hour from our home!  It was a common practice for her to turn around while we were on a hike, only to find me down on my hands and knees pointing my camera into a plant or bug… or anything other minute little object that caught my attention! 

But she tended to keep an encouraging smile and never tried to keep me moving along.  Then again… for every close-up picture I took of something in nature… I usually took two or three pictures from various angles with different poses of her… which she always seemed to enjoy… and was quite the natural in front of my lens.

My enjoyment of photography seemed to flow right in step with my inquisitive nature when it came to capturing the up-close details of God’s creations in nature, that often go unseen and/or un-thought of by folks spending a day in the great outdoors.   And I guess that one could say the same thing about my enjoyment and inquisitive nature when it comes to discovering and understanding more of the close-up details found in the Word of God… as written in yours and my Bibles.

Take for instance, one of the two earliest verses of scripture that made an impact on my life as a young married man.  In the King James Version, 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that,

“God hath not given us the SPIRIT of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 

I can’t tell you of how often that scripture has helped through the difficult times in my life since the first time it was impressed upon me at a Junior High Snow Camp that Piper and I brought our youth group to in 1976.  Since then, I have read and studied it in various translations, study guides and with Bible Study groups at different churches and continue to grow in revelation and close-up knowledge of its meanings in my life…

And then, just when I began to think that I couldn’t get any more revelation out of that verse, I recently came across a new English Bible translation called The Remedy and it opened up an even greater, close-up look into the writer’s intent for its meaning.  Here in modern day language, the Apostle pens,

“For God did not give you a CHARACTER of insecurity, doubt and fear, but a MIND and CHARACTER of confidence, power in the truth, love, and self-control.” 

Well… the way in which the word “CHARACTER” is substituted in place of the normal usage of “SPIRIT” definitely caught my interest and as I would, if I were back out on the trail with Piper in days of yore, I quickly attached my +1, +2 and +4 close-up lens set to the camera lens of my mind and focused in on the word through the usage of a couple of Greek/English Dictionaries.

A magnified look at the Thayer’s and Mounce Greek-English Definitions helps us to see that the word “CHARACTER” is probably a more accurate description of the original intent of the word.  They tell us that it is the “simple essence that possesses the power (in us) of knowing, desiring, deciding and acting.”  It is “a pervading influence and/or frame of mind as distinguished from outward circumstances and action.”  It is “the spiritual nature of God” working in us.”  And it is “a term for a process that is superior to a merely natural or carnal course of things that operates by the Divine Spirit in us.”

In other words, as a Christian… “the mind and CHARACTER of confidence, power in the truth, love and self-control” that God has given you and me, is to be the guiding force by which we live our daily lives!

And so… as I amplify that closer look into God’s divine purpose for wanting each of us to have His CHARACTER accurately working in us, I then turn the close-up lens set attached to the camera of my heart and mind and ask myself…  “Is that the overriding and abiding CHARACTER that I exemplify in my life… 24/7… Whether I am in public or alone in my house?

How about you?  How would you answer that question after looking through a close-up lens set at YOUR LIFE?

What I like best about close-up photography is that is causes you to see things that are hard to detail with the naked eye.  But sometimes that’s good and sometimes… Well…

Just think about it!

Have a great rest of your week.  Its damp, overcast and a bit gloomy outside my house right now, but that’s all supposed to turn into a beautiful weekend by Saturday!  Maybe I’ll take out my old close-up set and camera and go hunting for some beautiful things that I would otherwise miss!  And… Don’t forget… Keep EXPECTING God’s BEST as you walk in His CHARACTER while bringing your week to a close!