I was following one of those ubiquitous
Japanese 4 wheel drive vehicles the inhabit the modern urban jungles that most
of us live in these days, vehicles that a lot of people don't know how to drive properly, when I noticed a rather curious statement on the
spare wheel cover on the back of the vehicle.
It read “Nature is the reason we drive over
her, we leave only tracks, and if nature is your fashion she won’t hurt you,
even when we do!”
Now I know that the Japanese love to add
English words and phrases to many of their products, in the belief that such
expressions will help sell those products; however I rather suspect that the
original Japanese for this wheel cover read somewhat differently before it was
translated into English.
Words are powerful, but when they are mistranslated
or used out of context, they lose most, if not all of that power, and become
little more than a joke. Our lives can become like that as well.
If we fail to uncover, or worse still, lose sight of God’s intentions for our lives, we
become a meaningless jumble of good intentions and wasted possibilities.
There are many examples in the Bible of
people undergoing a complete transformation when they were touched by the Word
of God. Two of the most well-known figures of the New Testament, Judas the
disciple, and Paul the Apostle were turned upside-down by their separate
encounters with Jesus Christ, and in both cases all that they were was “lost in translation”
It is very likely that Judas was deeply influenced
by John the Baptist’s testimony before meeting Jesus, and his obvious
“business” skills were the natural gifts which suggested the choice of him as
the eventual treasurer of the group was an easy one. (See
John
12:6) However he was always among the least
zealous, and certainly the least loving of the twelve. Had Judas remained
outside of the “inner-circle” of Jesus’ followers, he would have remained little
more than a mean-spirited business-man. and a petty thief.
Before that dreadful “night of nights” Judas had salvation and even a
high place of honor in Christ’s future kingdom within his reach, but with his
treachery he sealed his fate… destined to be utterly rejected by his Master. “The Son of Man goes, as it has been
written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It
would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” And answering, the one betraying Him, Judas, said, “Master,
Not am I the one?” He said to
him, “You said it.” Matthew
26:4-5
The Apostle Paul, on the other hand, turned from being a persecutor of
the followers of “The Way” and became the leading light in the early church.
His writings and view of things eternal still influence us today. Paul’s path had
been set in place while he was still a boy, and he was destined to become, like
his father, a Pharisee, and possibly even the High Priest. His birthplace (Tarsus) was a
celebrated center of Greek literature and philosophy. He learnt the skill of
being a tent maker, not because his family were poor, but rather because Jewish
custom required each child, however wealthy the parents might be, to learn a
trade.
As a young man Paul became a student of Gamaliel, a Pharisee and eminent
doctor of the law. “I am a good Jew,
born in Tarsus in the province
of Cilicia, but educated here in Jerusalem under the
exacting eye of Rabbi Gamaliel, thoroughly instructed in our religious
traditions. And I've always been passionately on God's side, just as you are
right now.” Acts 22:3
Paul was, as we say, a “man of the world” and three major elements of
the ancient world’s culture met in him: Roman citizenship, Grecian culture and
the Hebrew religion. In the matter of religion, Paul was an absolute fanatic!
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| Damascus to Jerusalem |
Have you had an encounter with the Living One, and has that encounter
left you “lost in the translation”, changing you forever?
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