growth

Under arrest and cross-bound

eejoseph,

Many people are familiar with the saying that if you read the scriptures there’s a blessing, and further, if you give heed to the scriptures you are blessed, and then a third blessing comes to those who keep the sayings of the scriptures. This particular model comes from the book of Revelation, but we can take it that all of the writings preserved for us from the eyewitnesses of Jesus and his immediate servants will render the same layers of blessing.

Misinformation short circuits blessings

Take the verses that follow, Philippians 3:10-11, and characterize (1) the knowledge and (2) the metamorphosis

  • Knowledge: that I may know him
  • Being conformed to his death

that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11)

The conclusion from the context and the contending

The context of this knowledge of resurrection power and the conformity to his death is a teaching that lays Pharisee [self]righteousness to rest.  There is a conclusion that everything that preceded our introduction to Christ will fall into the category of rubbish. No group or tradition can claim to have that which Christ brings to the table of righteousness and power.  Knowing him and resurrection power is often thought to be the rites of conversion (REGENERATION – paliggenesia – confession, repentance, baptism, church membership), and the operation of  powers (dunamis – miracles and Spirit fruit).  Some however have chosen to follow the reasoning that knowledge of Christ takes a lifetime. Every convert meets the same Jesus, and Jesus has not designed every one to be teachers, miracle workers, evangelists, etc. It would be a waste of creative power if he did. We are subsequently never at the same level of memory text retention, never at the same volume of Bible knowledge and definitely never at the same level of diligent searching the Scriptures.

Our contending, our combat, compels us to accept intimacy with Christ as the starting point of experiencing resurrection power, and the continuing daily shaping of OUR LIVES to agree with HIS DEATH, something infinitely beyond church membership.

Neither expertise nor learning

You only delude yourself that all believers have a vast treasury of knowledge of Christ. True religion is not talk. It is not telling ourselves that we ought to obey because each one has the same Father, and no believer has the power to talk another into long hair, short hair, improved sight or hearing. We are all dependent on God to, with our surrender, move us to the next level of faith. The next level of our advancement is not something we earn, because our growth and productivity are outcomes of grace; from faith to faith.  Let our thanksgiving repeatedly silence any pride that we have cooperated with the Divine Majesty.

The impatient patient

We cannot wait to declare ourselves free from all the identifying marks of humanity, so we talk about victory in all circumstances, we talk about being delivered from all troubled. Meanwhile, many of us are wretched, poor, miserable and blind, and do not know it. We want to have an abundant life with no death in sight and that is the tragedy of trying to be something we are not. Christ came to save us; all the apostles tell us that he saved us yet, we are telling ourselves “Not so: we’re not saved”.   The purpose of the Cross is not to make all the people of the world israelites, following the law of Moses and the levitical system. The purpose of the Cross is to bring us to the Crucified Life; a life that mirrors the life of the Risen Lord. Eternal life without the cross as the center, the source and the flow, is completely fake.

Growth’s groaning

eejoseph, , ,

This saying is popular and highly recommended.  No question lingers about its value, but we can help define the growth rates and expected outcomes.  “Together” may well mean different things to different folks, and growing is not likely to happen without some groaning with accompanying pains.

Grow

We have some “say” in our physical growth.  Mother’s milk sets that in motion and  we take that nutrition over with some level of wisdom. There are pandemic fatalities in the area of human physical development.  Growth is not without fatalities.  Some things we cherish will perish.

Growing

We are responsible for advancing our stature as imaginative workers and fun lovers. No growth in these aspects are signs of certain catastrophe. If you are a gardner, planting the same solitary fruit in exactly the same manner every season may feel like a comfortable mission, but doing so is blind to the wide world of fruit diversity, not to mention missing the potential of harvests feeding more people.

Growth

As much as we can and do increase the scope and rate of personal development we face the demands of decreasing the space between us and family  advancing our stature as imaginative workers and fun lovers.

People settle for the comfort  and placidity of togetherness. People think that personal goals and strides towards excellence should take a back seat to their spousal responsibilities. Since family is intended to reflect the creative, procreative and sovereign elements of divinity we can do ourselves a huge favour.  A spouse who decides all growing is over is a threat to togetherness and growth.

The whole creation groans

In many regards the expectations of a couple have a tough road to navigate, even with reasonable and regular discussions. People grow at different rates and healthy couple growth may need more than common faith. The passion and crucifixion of Christ contains the essential roadmap even though all they tell us when we get married is “for better or worse” and “until death parts us”. I like to think that none of us really gives up ourselves in order to have a married life. We, with difficulty, break with our parents, but a husband-to-be giving himself for his wife-to-be is rare if not unlikely. Like the heavenly Father who saw the potential in human beings before he created us, we can recognize that there is a whole lot of birthpang groaning involved in the arrival at love’s togetherness, whether that unity is the planet’s final destiny or a couple’s bliss.

Close and Flipping Confidence

eejoseph, , , Leave a comment

A strange phenomenon greets us as we follow Yeshua and his disciples on their final tour of the Holy Land. To say the apostles were castles of knowledge and experts in anything is to admit that we are reading some other source. Their situation, as the end approached, resembled more and more the shattering of our Sunday or Sabbath school comprehension as the truth about Yeshua comes to centrestage.

Mark 9:32 provides information that shows that not only Peter, identified by his convictions that the Nazareth was the Christ and that the Christ could not possibly be the victim of abuse or murder, but the entire crew preferred to be silent rather than ask “What are you talking about?” Once our Lord began repeating his predictions the passion the best of heaven’s plan was unacceptable.

They didn’t understand what he meant and were too afraid to ask him about it.

Neither seeing all those miracles nor hearing all those teachings prepared them for the passion. I suppose we are not very much examples of being hip. We all have the Holy Spirit living in us and we are still not paying attention to Yeshua. We have our backs to him as we face the avalanche of Jewish tradition, the propaganda of secular authorities, and our own incompetence and fear of the Father’s love.

Our adulterous streak has puffed up our pride to the place where the last thing we want to be corrected. What are you talking about when you tell about your closer walk with the Saviour of the world? What does your breakthrough moment hold? More confidence flipping?

Do we look like you are ready to tell Christ what his fate is while we are afraid to look into Scripture and get our convictions shattered? If we are convinced that the answers are not worth it, then we should drop the Bible and the pretence of Bible study and just say and believe whatever comes to mind.