I always liked the saying “Familiarity Breeds Contempt”. This is very true. You tend to take those close to you and pick them apart and find their slightest faults and magnify them. Whereas, with one you are not familiar, you are on your “best” behavior and allow much more room for error. Same holds true for surroundings. You tend to take the beauty of the Pacific NW for granted. One trip back to SoCal to see family and I realize just how beautiful it is up here. But it takes a reminder to help me remember this.

• Some of what Paul says doesn’t seem too progressive today. What can we learn from a passage that might seem to be outdated in our modern times?

History is a great teacher and for one to look back into the history of our Lord, with those involved directly from the beginning, is very profitable. Profitable in as much that one can see first hand that which is important in proclaiming life as a genuine Christian.

Have times really changed that much? I believe more so to the change of the people and their hearts. Yes, modern times have in them technology and advances in the way things are done, but has the person really changed? Strip away the gadgets and modern advances in life of today and one will find a people in need of the basics of survival, much like the people of yesteryear. I also believe people of modern day are farther removed from a God to man relationship than those of olden times. If this is true, then there are riches to be discovered in the study of those times when men’s hearts were closer to God.

One of the reasons Christ uses Parables in His teaching is to address those of old and present times. The messages are for people—not for time. If the messages are the same, yet the time changes, then the place of where one is in time is really of little value. Where in Christ can they be found is the important question. This importance comes in the process of learning from the past in building a better relationship with Jesus into the future.

Studying from the past teaches many things and can open the eyes of those willing to accept that they may be in need of some old-fashioned guidance and direction. Wisdom comes from experience and experience comes from doing. If one can learn from past experience one can become wiser and closer in becoming a viable asset of an active society. In Hebrews 5:8 we see the Lord learning obedience from His experiences. This He learned though He was God!

Also, wisdom, (the kind truly in need of), comes from the Holy Spirit. And what better way to learn how to connect with God’s spirit than studying and to study that which has been tried and found true.

• Some of our most difficult relationships can be found in those we see almost daily. What is it about regular relationships like this that can make them difficult?

Jesus, Himself, states in Scripture that, “I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown (Luke 2:24).

Could this be because ‘our own’ know the old us and assumes we have not changed? My brother did not believe in a God of relationship. He only believed in a God of Power, Creation and Wrath! Over the years of my proclaiming of being a Christian, he has mocked me and many times has made reference to our formative years, ones of much struggle and ungodliness. My brother believed he knew me better than I knew myself. I find it easier to convince a stranger of my walk with God than to convince my own family and friends. Of course that has been changed as I have been diligent in a growing relationship with Jesus over many years and have been blessed, am being blessed and continue to grow and change in effort to make it to the end, and that with Christ.

It has taken, up to this point in my life, that life lived and recognition to my wrong doings with a genuine repentance, to change the minds of my loved ones. Now my brother reads Scripture and asks many questions of the God I proclaim having a relationship to. He even asked me how he could achieve such peace and constant joy he knows I have and we make conversation over family get togethers as to the changes my relationship to Jesus has truly made in my life. All my family was like my brother at one time, and today, two of three sisters and my mother have all changed their minds and hearts and are diligently seeking the God of Love who can change even the most stubborn hearts and minds. The third sister is starting to come into the awareness of her need to seek and find Christ by the change of the rest of the family.

• Why does it seem like its sometimes harder to follow Jesus in the way we treat those who we know best?

A stranger could be more supportive, in most cases, as to the walk one claims in their relationship to God. From this I see a frustration and it becomes easier, less energy involved, in just not dealing with those of scorn. But is that truly God’s will and way?

Proof is on the street, as you will find people willing and ready to venture into unknown territory with a mission for God. But few are making the stand on their own home front and living Christianity among those less accepting. The need for ministry at home is great but the return is low as it is harder to deal with those who know the old you or believe you are like them and not genuine but delusional.

• How do Paul’s instructions offer dignity to each of the parties involved in them?

Paul’s instructions encompass the idea of God’s Love in the act of relating to others. Be it a wife, husband, father and or children. Also, instructed is humility to that of which one serves. Through humility one will find the connection needed to Love God with their all and from this a loving of others. I find humility to be the volume knob, which I can increase, the hearing of God in my heart. And scripture reveals that from the heart comes a most vital part of understanding the God of whom one serves. It is the Heart God looks at when He looks at us.

May we all learn from the old in pursuit of a new tomorrow in the Glory of God’s kingdom. May He grant a heart into His newly created for the desire to love even the unlovable, and may we ask His help and strength in the doing. By His power of love may we all follow the pattern set before us by Christ Jesus on His pathway in obedience to His Father. And may the Pathways community embrace Him in love with open hearts and out reached hands to those not so loving and forgiving.