Episode 283: I’m Talkin. . .Objective
I’m talking episode 283 for September 17th, 2023.
This is Joel from the I’m Talking microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.
This week, we’re talking objective.
Objective is a really cool two-pronged word that we use on a semi-regular basis, maybe.
The first prong is the definition of goal, like we have an objective that we’d like to meet, or we’re giving a talk with the objective being to teach people something.
That’s kind of the goal, the work-oriented part of objective.
Then, the second prong is to make decisions based on facts without your personal feelings getting in the way.
The opposite is subjective, where you don’t really have that much facts, and what you’re thinking, what you’re deciding is not based on a lot of information.
Objective is where you have good information, and if you can keep your personal feelings out of it, you can make good decisions based on the facts that are presented.
As I said before, I really like this, and I’m going to talk about both prongs of the word objective in today’s microcast.
The first is really good.
It’s good to have goals.
It’s good to set and plan and do those kinds of things in your life, not at the expense of having some freedom to do other things, but at the thought of not being wishy-washy.
I think there’s always a balance, but I really like having objective goals that you’re trying to meet.
The second is far more challenging to be objective in a situation where your personal feelings might get in the way, where you have strong opinions about something, and it clouds the way you look at facts.
It’s a very difficult part of the word objective, and I think both can be troubling.
Just setting of goals can be difficult, and then the suppression of your personal feelings and decision-making can be difficult.
Therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.
First, as a Christian, we have an objective, a goal, something we are striving to, and the Bible tells us what that is, and that is to be Christ-like, to follow Jesus Christ.
In everything we are, and everything we do, and all that we have, we are to become more like Christ every single day.
That is the objective.
Is it easy?
No.
Is it attainable?
Yes, because God has also given us the power of the Holy Spirit.
And so, in that, we become hyper-focused on who Jesus Christ is and what He means to us, and the world doesn’t like that.
The world believes that religion is based on a feeling, not on facts, and that is the difficulty of the second prong of the word objective, which is to make decisions based on facts without letting your personal feelings get in the way, because your personal feelings are often wrong.
I hope I’m not the first person to tell you that, but I know in my own life I’ve seen that true more often than I would really like to admit.
But our relationship with Jesus Christ is not based on a feeling.
It’s based on information.
It’s based on truth.
It’s based on fact.
And if we’re being objective, that list of facts and information and data that we get from the Bible, from the world, from creation, has led us to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
That’s why we call ourselves Christians.
And people of the world think that we are letting our feelings rule our lives, when in reality, we are letting facts drive us to the knowledge of who Jesus Christ is, so that on the first prong of objective, we can set that goal to be more like Him.
And the really awesome thing about that combination of the word is that we have the goal to follow Jesus Christ.
We have the objective nature of following truth and knowing that Jesus is the Son of God and has provided eternal life through His death and resurrection.
And then we get the ultimate joy of our feelings following that fact and goal and having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that turns us into a light for the world to see.
Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking microcast.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai