Folks who utilize optics—cameras and lenses, microscopes, hunting scopes, binoculars, spotting scopes—are familiar with a concept called, parallax. Any device that has multiple lenses can suffer parallax, and whether you use sophisticated optics or not, you need to know about parallax because it is an important biblical ideal.

Definition: Parallax is a distorted image due to multiple viewing angles.

Parallax is the English of a Greek word, para-log’-ay. The word appears one time in the New Testament and one time in the Greek version of the Old Testament.

In the first chapter of his book, James refers to God as the “Father of lights” in v. 17 and notes that with Him “…there is no variation, or shifting shadow.” This phrase is the English translation of the Greek word, parallax. God doesn’t move around. He is not distorted, nor will He be distorted. As the source of light, God has no shadow. He’s never in the dark. He always sees clearly and His image and character are constant. God’s opinion, goodness, integrity, standard, and person never fluctuate, ebb, grow, diminish, or evolve.

God has no parallax and with God there is no parallax.

In the third century before Christ was born, seventy scholars were commissioned by Ptolemy II Philadelphus to translate the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek. The resulting translation is called the Septuagint, named such because this is the Greek word for seventy and in commemoration of the seventy scholars who did the translation work.

The only occurrence of parallax in the Old Testament is found in 2 Kings 9:20. I will let you read the context of the verse for yourself. Chapter 9 relates chariot warfare and assassinations. It’s one of the more dramatic and brutal chapters in Scripture.

In verse 9:20, newly-crowned-King Jehu is driving his chariot hard and fast toward the stronghold where the wounded King Joram was recuperating. As the watchman tried to make out who was approaching the keep, he observed that, “…the driving is like the driving of Jehu for he drives furiously,” meaning: Jehu was known to drive his chariot erratically, furiously, conveyed by the word, parallax.

So, by biblical definition, parallax is a distorted image or observation. No matter how you look at it, from numerous angles, when parallax occurs, the image is erratic, skewed, irregular, distorted, unreliable.

What James wants us to understand is that there is NO parallax with our heavenly Father. No matter how many of us view Him, He doesn’t shift or change. No matter the angle from which God is viewed, He never casts a shadow. No matter the circumstance, societal issues, cultural viewpoint, political wranglings, or historical precedence, God does not alter, bend, skew, veer, turn, swerve, diverge, twist, digress, or succumb.

Given this, it makes perfect sense that the author of Hebrews exhorts you to endure all the mess and mania occurring in the arena of life by fixing your eyes on Jesus.

So, I encourage you to take a moment—right now would be a good moment—and focus your soul. It’s a two-step process.

First: Take a quick inventory of your friend with cancer, your burdened budget, your wayward child, the grim physical report; migrant deaths on the border, Roe, the January 6th Committee; you can’t feed your baby, can’t go on vacation this summer, you can’t afford groceries; the Chinese are spying on you, as are the FBI, ATF, IRS, and who knows who else; war, Ukraine, North Korea; the drought, the heat, and whatever else is pirating your attention. While not unprecedented in history, there has not been a socio-political climate like this in your lifetime—and these circumstances are not going to get better any time soon, the mid-term elections notwithstanding. Focus. First on the mess.

Now, focus on James’ declaration to you in the first chapter of his book. Look at your heavenly Father. Consider: He is the Source of all light. He has no shadow. His character does not vary. He does not waver in His commitment to you. In Him, there is no variance, nothing erratic, and no duplicity. He simply is. He is the same day in, day out, no matter what mania is transpiring around you.

Read the news. Try to get your bearings. Follow the logic of today’s philosophy and parallax fills your soul.

Focus your soul on Jesus and no matter what mania is swirling, you are secure. In Him there is no shifting shadow, no parallax, no matter how you view Him or what’s going around you. Parallax no more.

NOW, some good news!

The ebook of my latest literary effort, Rigorous Grace, is finally available. Woohoo!

The lady who helps me with this sort of work, Lindsay, figured out what Kindle and Amazon.com could not and got the ebook uploaded for your reading option. You can purchase the ebook here. You can purchase the paperback book here. If you would like to purchase copies in bulk to share, contact me for pricing.

I wrote Rigorous Grace for two reasons: 1) To inform you. 2) To provide you with a resource to share. Together, today is our day to seize the moment and be light in our dark, darkening world. Today is the day to advance your heart’s cause to truly know your heavenly Father, not just know about Him.

As you know, my exposure to the outside world is dramatically diminished after my cancellation for expressing Christian perspective in the marketplace. I’m counting on our partnership to let others know about my writings and blog. I continue to be aggressively censored. Yes, I write books and publish them. But you are the distributor!

Together we are greater than the sum of our parts. Together we are not censored.

For the latest video interview with Tony Clark regarding Rigorous Grace, click here.