Our Own Understanding

Well here it is my first Blog of 06' and I would just like to start off saying that I appreciated those who expressed interest in when my next Blog entree would be. It has now been over a month since my last Blog and I really can't say much has happened. School started back up and that is pretty much the change in my life since my last Blog. Now over the past month there has been a plethora of Blogs for me to read, many have been entertaining and some have been thought provoking and I must say that much of my procrastinating in writing a new blog entree has been in part because I have been mulling over the thought provoking entrees. So I'll come right out and say it that this entree will fall into the thought provoking category.

"In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil." (Job 1:1, NIV) Even God himself praised the integrity of Job; "Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."' (Job 1:8, NIV) Now basically what happened was that Satan challenged God on Job's integrity and uprightness so God allowed Satan to put Job to the test and after losing almost all his family and possessions and being covered in sores Job still refused to curse God. Now from chapter 3 thru 37 there is a dialogue between Job and three of his friends and as you read what Job's friends say to him there seems to be wisdom in what they say. Except by the end of the book God makes it clear that what they were saying wasn't wisdom but foolishness. "After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."' (Job 42:7, NIV) Now you may be wondering why I just summarized the story of Job for you. Well I wanted to make a point, as we read the interaction and dialogue between Job and his friends it seems that what Job's friends have to say is wisdom, good Godly wisdom. Except God makes it clear that what they thought was good Godly advice was really foolishness.

Now sometimes I fear we fall prey to the same problems. We think that our insight and thoughts are wise and honest, but I wonder how often we are simply expressing our own understanding. Our wisdom seems to reflect an attempt to reconcile what God says in the Bible with how we see the world. Are we blending the two together? Sometimes. Should we be? I argue no. The Bible makes it clear that we are called to love this world, that we are to be Christ’s representatives in this world and that through us and the Holy Spirit, Christ is calling all people to repentance and reconciliation with Him. We know from the scriptures that our first calling is; “Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut. 10:12, NIV) or more directly, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deut. 6:5, NIV) Jesus even re-emphasizes this in Matthew 22:34-40 but in it he adds something that many people seem to miss; “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40, NIV) What Jesus said here not only parallels Deuteronomy 6:5 but also another passage in Deuteronomy; “He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” (Deut. 10:18-19, NIV) and “If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.” (Deut. 15:7-8, NIV) both of these passages reflect Jesus’ second commandment, to love others as ourselves. The question becomes: what does loving others as ourselves mean? Does it “love others” to give to the poor? To help a friend move? To pray for those who are sick? To give food to the hungry? Compassion to the broken hearted? Acceptance of someone’s sin?? This last one is a little tricky huh? Are we truly loving people when we allow them to see us down play someone’s sin? Any sin? When we say, “Well this isn’t really a big deal, we accept you just the way you are.” Are we doing people any favors by letting them think that simply being a nice or good person is all that matters because we are worried that telling someone that their actions are sinful might hurt their feelings or turn them away from God? If people don’t recognize sin how can there ever be reconciliation between them and a Holy and Just God? I believe that sin has created a barrier between man and God and rendered man hostile towards God (Isa. 59:1-2; Col. 1:22-22; James 4:4). Through the death of Christ the wrath of God was removed (Rom. 5:10), thus having removed the barrier of sin God moved to reconcile man to Himself (2 Cor. 5:18, 19). However, without recognition and repentance of that sin how will people ever become reconciled to God? I believe that because God is holy and righteous He cannot overlook sin, so through the death of Christ (1 John 2:2, 4:10), all the righteous demands of God towards humanity have been satisfied (Heb 2:17). However, it is important to realize that people must chose to come to Christ. Christ's death was for all of humanity (2 Cor. 5:14-15; I Tim. 2:6, 4:10; 2 Pet. 3:9) even though not all of humanity will be saved, His death was for the whole world (John 1:29, 3:16-19, 4:42; 1 John 4:14) but it is effective only for those who repent and believe in the gospel.

We are not God and therefore we are not to be Judges of this world (thankfully) and because we are not God we do not know everything He knows and we are not perfect. However, we have the scriptures which He revealed for us so that we might know truth. I believe that all Scripture (the Bible), is God breathed (2 Tim. 3:16) originating not from the will of men but communicated by God through the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). The scriptures are our insight in to the TRUTH of God and we can place trust in them because it is God’s word. In that we may have a firm and true foundation for our faith. So it is in Love for God that we believe and follow His word, it is because of our Love for God that we show love to Him and others. It is because of our love for God that we do not shy away from the truth of sin and its reality in this world.

We must remember that the “Love” that is seen in the scriptures is much deeper and more complex than emotional love. Emotional love is based upon how we feel or more accurately, emotional love is based on our self interests. This kind of love is based on the question: “How do I feel?” or “What makes me comfortable?” In this case love is given and taken away based upon the whim of feelings which aren’t always based on truth. The Love that is shown in the scriptures is based upon a much more firm foundation. It is founded upon the promises of God, there is no fear that God will up and decide that he doesn’t feel like loving His people anymore. We also see that the Love expressed in the scriptures is much broader then emotional love. This Love is founded upon promises that will never change and includes hope for all people. This Love is infinitely more fulfilling then emotional love but it is also much more demanding. If we are to be a part of God’s people and therefore Love Him, and we are also being Loved by Him, then we must realize that this deeper Love places more responsibility and demands on us. As His people we cannot expect to just sit back and receive unending Love from God for nothing. However, God’s Love did not come with strings attached, so if we are truly God’s people our Love for God and our service to Him comes from a deeper stronger love that is not founded on feelings. As a result when we are His, our hearts should be so filled with our Love from Him that our desire to serve Him does not come from a feeling of obligation but rather it is a by-product of His Love poured into us. In other words He pours so much Love into us that we should not be able to help but pour that Love back out to Him and others.

We must remember that what seems like wisdom is not always God’s wisdom and what seems like love is not always God’s love. We are His people and we are called to reflect His wisdom and love, not our own and not the worlds. It was God’s love that sent His one and only Son into the world to be the sin offering for us all. It was God’s wisdom that chose to pour out all of His Holy and Just wrath onto his Holy and Just Son rather than onto His creation (man). It is the Love and Wisdom of God that says that even though we are sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Let us seek out Godly wisdom and let us express God’s love to people. Let us show the world the Truth that is found in the scriptures, let us be people of the scriptures living life based on God’s understanding NOT our own.

P.S. GO Seahawks!