I'm asking God to fill me with His Spirit as I read His Bible.
"With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:10-11 ESV
The word translated commandments in the Hebrew word mitzvah (Strong's H4687) and these are not legalistic actions. A mitzvah is a blessed kind action filled with mercy and love.
When we love people we store up knowledge about them so that we can be a blessed to them and not a curse. Our well-meaning actions can be a 'sin against them' in they are done without knowledge.
Other than 'imputing sin' to one another the next best way to kill a relationship is to function without knowledge towards that person.
"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."" Mark 12:30-31 ESV
It is very easy for us to wander away from a mitzvah-filled life.
Let's seek God's mind and ponder His words. Let's be filled with the Spirit that is compatible with the new nature we received at our new birth and live a life of understanding love. The Holy Spirit will kindly show us if we have eyes to see it. It doesn't require a high IQ to do this. It requires a laid down life of attention and imparted understanding.
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Showing posts with label Understanding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Understanding. Show all posts
Monday, December 12, 2016
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
A Metaphor / We And One
A METAPHOR
"And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam..." - 1 Samuel 17:7a KJV
This is a metaphor. If I know nothing about a weaver's beam the sentence is meaningless. 'Weaver's beam' might as well be 'Fubdwd Polulvue' if I have never seem or heard of such a thing. I know less then I did because now a gap has opened.
Our mind stumbles. Our mental picture has a spear in it but we only know that some piece of knowledge is missing about the spear. The sentence made us dumber. If 'Weaver's Beam' is never defined we have a closed circle... a mystery with no end... a cliff hanger with no resolution.
Math is a universal language. Simple math can be explained with rocks. Metaphors are relational. The words need definitions or else the concepts fall flat. God is far beyond math. He made math. Math is baby talk compared to what He wants to explain to us.
God is like Jesus and Jesus is like God. The cross is like grace and grace is like the cross.
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. ... For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." - John 1:14, 17 KJV
If Jesus isn't defined we can't know God. No math will bring us there. God is lost to us without understanding who Jesus Is.
If what Jesus has done means nothing then we are cut off from understanding the first thing about God. But if we do know Jesus then we know the most vital things about God. A relationship is established on this common understanding. We become alive.
Without Jesus all we have is death because it is all we understand.
--------------
WE AND ONE
"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.'
Jesus answered him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.' " - John 3:1-3 ESV
Nicodemus said, 'We know... '
Who is the 'we' that Nicodemus is speaking of? Is it a group present for the conversation? Is it a group of scholars who he represents? He isn't saying 'you and I' know. We refers to a group somewhere.
Then Jesus narrows it down to, 'unless one is'
A 'we' has political power but vision is singular.
"Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.' " - John 3:5 ESV
Entrance is also singular. The 'we' does not enter. We enter one by one.
Let's watch the singular and plural references in the next passage.
"Jesus answered him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." - John 3:10-15 ESV
Wow. Jesus has the 'we' of the Trinity and He shines light on this man's religion that has been spoon fed to Nicodemus by a group.
""For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." - John 3:16-18 ESV
One of the greatest and most known passages in the scriptures. One God gave one Son so that each person out of the full group that comprises all of humanity might believe and be saved.
'We' isn't going to save anyone. You must be born again. Salvation isn't skimmed from a collection of cultural ideas. Salvation is one person who is washed by a triune God because he or she believes that one Father sent one Son to die everyone's death.
"And the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.' So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.' " - Numbers 21:7-8 ESV
Moses made a brass serpent in a time of great crisis. Each person had a choice. Israel was stuck in a herd mentality. Don't we see that around us today? People say 'we believe this' but then the next day the 'we' shifts.
God makes it simple. Where will you look? Only you can enter in. No group on Earth can go for you. Each one sees and enters individually.
--
"And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam..." - 1 Samuel 17:7a KJV
This is a metaphor. If I know nothing about a weaver's beam the sentence is meaningless. 'Weaver's beam' might as well be 'Fubdwd Polulvue' if I have never seem or heard of such a thing. I know less then I did because now a gap has opened.
Our mind stumbles. Our mental picture has a spear in it but we only know that some piece of knowledge is missing about the spear. The sentence made us dumber. If 'Weaver's Beam' is never defined we have a closed circle... a mystery with no end... a cliff hanger with no resolution.
Math is a universal language. Simple math can be explained with rocks. Metaphors are relational. The words need definitions or else the concepts fall flat. God is far beyond math. He made math. Math is baby talk compared to what He wants to explain to us.
God is like Jesus and Jesus is like God. The cross is like grace and grace is like the cross.
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. ... For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." - John 1:14, 17 KJV
If Jesus isn't defined we can't know God. No math will bring us there. God is lost to us without understanding who Jesus Is.
If what Jesus has done means nothing then we are cut off from understanding the first thing about God. But if we do know Jesus then we know the most vital things about God. A relationship is established on this common understanding. We become alive.
Without Jesus all we have is death because it is all we understand.
--------------
WE AND ONE
"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.'
Jesus answered him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.' " - John 3:1-3 ESV
Nicodemus said, 'We know... '
Who is the 'we' that Nicodemus is speaking of? Is it a group present for the conversation? Is it a group of scholars who he represents? He isn't saying 'you and I' know. We refers to a group somewhere.
Then Jesus narrows it down to, 'unless one is'
A 'we' has political power but vision is singular.
"Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.' " - John 3:5 ESV
Entrance is also singular. The 'we' does not enter. We enter one by one.
Let's watch the singular and plural references in the next passage.
"Jesus answered him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." - John 3:10-15 ESV
Wow. Jesus has the 'we' of the Trinity and He shines light on this man's religion that has been spoon fed to Nicodemus by a group.
""For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." - John 3:16-18 ESV
One of the greatest and most known passages in the scriptures. One God gave one Son so that each person out of the full group that comprises all of humanity might believe and be saved.
'We' isn't going to save anyone. You must be born again. Salvation isn't skimmed from a collection of cultural ideas. Salvation is one person who is washed by a triune God because he or she believes that one Father sent one Son to die everyone's death.
"And the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.' So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.' " - Numbers 21:7-8 ESV
Moses made a brass serpent in a time of great crisis. Each person had a choice. Israel was stuck in a herd mentality. Don't we see that around us today? People say 'we believe this' but then the next day the 'we' shifts.
God makes it simple. Where will you look? Only you can enter in. No group on Earth can go for you. Each one sees and enters individually.
--
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Good Ground
"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.' " - Luke 8:5-8 ESV
If I don't speak the language then I don't have ears to hear. I lack comprehension.
I want to speak God's grace language. What does that mean? He interprets situations a certain way. He has a priority system.
"And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, 'Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?' But He turned and rebuked them, and said, 'You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 'For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them.' And they went to another village." - Luke 9:54-56 NKJV
God give us ears to hear. We need to learn your language through immersion. We want to walk with You and learn your ways. We know nothing as we aught to. We want the seed to fall on good ground so it will produce lots and lots of fruit.
--
If I don't speak the language then I don't have ears to hear. I lack comprehension.
I want to speak God's grace language. What does that mean? He interprets situations a certain way. He has a priority system.
"And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, 'Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?' But He turned and rebuked them, and said, 'You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 'For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them.' And they went to another village." - Luke 9:54-56 NKJV
God give us ears to hear. We need to learn your language through immersion. We want to walk with You and learn your ways. We know nothing as we aught to. We want the seed to fall on good ground so it will produce lots and lots of fruit.
--
Friday, November 7, 2014
Believing That Will Usher In Understanding
"What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" - 1 Corinthians 4:7b ESV
Understanding will not cause me to believe but believing will usher in understanding. As witnesses of God's mercy we choose to receive His initiations by believing and when we do that we have a spiritual platform for understanding.
God uses the foolishness of preaching (or proclamation) that displays grace and through the channel of grace God's attributes and work are put on display. The Gospel of grace is not a meaty enough argument for the natural man. It is a simple declaration. That declaration seems foolish until a person believes and then it becomes the power of God that dominates a persons life.
The cross and Christ's work there must be our primary apologetic because it is the Spirit of God that must do the persuading that all of our carefully planned arguments would never accomplish. Of course we steer clear of irrational arguments. The message is a rational one. It just can't be received only by the mind. It must be embraced by the heart that senses the presence of a One who Is divine reaching out to them.
"Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding." - Proverbs 4:7 NKJV
When a person becomes wise enough to know where to look they can then get understanding.
"Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear." - Isaiah 65:24 ESV
God's initiation of grace precedes our asking. He has put spiritual desires in our being when He remade us and with our will we exercise the choice to ask and He answers. We don't have anything spiritual of ourselves. What we have has been given to us.
"For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." - Matthew 13:12 ESV
"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." - John 15:5 ESV
Our faith is a gift from God. It is a fruit of the Spirit who indwells us that is now intertwined with our living human spirit.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," - Galatians 5:22 KJV
In love God has given us faith and all the other fruits of the Spirit so that they can be exercised. We don't have the power to exercise anything. We have the authority as a child of God and when we choose to function in our authority God supplies the power.
We decide to believe based on what we have been given. We say 'Yes' to God in faith thanking Him and rejoicing in Him and then in the creativity that He supplies we keep saying 'Yes'. We thank Him for what He has done and believe Him for what He will do to redeem people and situations
"But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me." - 2 Timothy 1:12b ESV
If my believing lacks content then we will seek comfort and Earthly advantage but when we know Jesus then in wisdom we will have authority to operate in and gain understanding for those things that have a redemptive purpose. That is why we are here on the Earth... to love people and gain what has been lost.
I want to seek the understanding that will further a redemptive purpose.
God help us today. We believe you. Make us wise and give us understanding for all that we do. Understanding for marriage and parenting... understanding for business and finances... understanding for health... understanding for missions and Church life... understanding... we seek it from You our source of all wisdom. Open your book to us. Move our minds to places they have not been and give us deep intuitive insight so that we can function in Your purposes on the Earth. Thank You. We love You and Thank You.
--
Understanding will not cause me to believe but believing will usher in understanding. As witnesses of God's mercy we choose to receive His initiations by believing and when we do that we have a spiritual platform for understanding.
God uses the foolishness of preaching (or proclamation) that displays grace and through the channel of grace God's attributes and work are put on display. The Gospel of grace is not a meaty enough argument for the natural man. It is a simple declaration. That declaration seems foolish until a person believes and then it becomes the power of God that dominates a persons life.
The cross and Christ's work there must be our primary apologetic because it is the Spirit of God that must do the persuading that all of our carefully planned arguments would never accomplish. Of course we steer clear of irrational arguments. The message is a rational one. It just can't be received only by the mind. It must be embraced by the heart that senses the presence of a One who Is divine reaching out to them.
"Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding." - Proverbs 4:7 NKJV
When a person becomes wise enough to know where to look they can then get understanding.
"Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear." - Isaiah 65:24 ESV
God's initiation of grace precedes our asking. He has put spiritual desires in our being when He remade us and with our will we exercise the choice to ask and He answers. We don't have anything spiritual of ourselves. What we have has been given to us.
"For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." - Matthew 13:12 ESV
"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." - John 15:5 ESV
Our faith is a gift from God. It is a fruit of the Spirit who indwells us that is now intertwined with our living human spirit.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," - Galatians 5:22 KJV
In love God has given us faith and all the other fruits of the Spirit so that they can be exercised. We don't have the power to exercise anything. We have the authority as a child of God and when we choose to function in our authority God supplies the power.
We decide to believe based on what we have been given. We say 'Yes' to God in faith thanking Him and rejoicing in Him and then in the creativity that He supplies we keep saying 'Yes'. We thank Him for what He has done and believe Him for what He will do to redeem people and situations
"But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me." - 2 Timothy 1:12b ESV
If my believing lacks content then we will seek comfort and Earthly advantage but when we know Jesus then in wisdom we will have authority to operate in and gain understanding for those things that have a redemptive purpose. That is why we are here on the Earth... to love people and gain what has been lost.
I want to seek the understanding that will further a redemptive purpose.
God help us today. We believe you. Make us wise and give us understanding for all that we do. Understanding for marriage and parenting... understanding for business and finances... understanding for health... understanding for missions and Church life... understanding... we seek it from You our source of all wisdom. Open your book to us. Move our minds to places they have not been and give us deep intuitive insight so that we can function in Your purposes on the Earth. Thank You. We love You and Thank You.
--
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Take A Moment To Commune With Him
I love the Bible.
In a moment a passage can come to life and God's mind becomes real and vivid. God's amazing grace... the way He thinks is not the way we think but His thoughts from above are available to us. If we let ourselves be available to Him through His word.
This passage really bowled me over this morning. Like a wave crashing over a person on the beach and causing them to lose their footing and be carried in the tumble. Eternity meets time and space and like a wave it shakes what is not firmly anchored down as it saturates the Earth.
"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'
In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged (discerned) ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another - if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home - so that when you come together it will not be for judgment." - 1 Corinthians 11:23-34a ESV
Putting aside the power of things. It is not the bread or the wine that has the power... but communion is powerful. Real communion when a person fellowships with God and God reveals Himself to that person in mingling intimacy. God giving his Son so that men and women might have mental, emotional and spiritual nourishment.
I think back to a principle we spoke about before involving knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Knowledge being an awareness of structure, understanding one of function and wisdom is discerning value. Do we discern the bread and the cup? Do we discern the value of people and the love God has for them? Do we discern grace?
God makes it clear... He wants us to remember Him... to commune with Him... but there is a wrong way to do it that brings harm. It can be dangerous if it is mishandled. If it is only moral. If it is impersonal. It is not about bread and wine. It is about grace and mercy! Oh yes it is.
This whole thing is about God's love for people! He sees what people go through as they suffer in a fallen world. He is holding out His hands on the threshold of the human experience. He comes as close as He possibly can without compromising His holiness or our right to choose and he calls and yearns and wants people to come so that He can fill, wash, heal and sustain them. Life is very hard. In the end God will fix all of it but living in time there are tremendous needs.
We can go through the motions of a spiritual life but lack the communion that comes from fellowship with the God of all grace. We can miss the value and be very unwise in life. It is possible... very possible... but in a moment that all goes behind us... the crisis is past when our eyes are fixed on Him... remembering Him... discerning who He is and what He has done... in Heaven sitting on a throne at the right hand of the Father, in an individual standing or sitting right beside us and manifested in a group of people.
Stop, take a minute to discern the situation and be wise. Stop and receive grace and love. Wait a moment and 'wait for one another' in the dignity of spiritual understanding.
Wisdom from above stirs up compassion in our hearts that moves us to function in faith. Let us be worshipers today as we discern the value of the one who loves us and loves the people all around us.
--
In a moment a passage can come to life and God's mind becomes real and vivid. God's amazing grace... the way He thinks is not the way we think but His thoughts from above are available to us. If we let ourselves be available to Him through His word.
This passage really bowled me over this morning. Like a wave crashing over a person on the beach and causing them to lose their footing and be carried in the tumble. Eternity meets time and space and like a wave it shakes what is not firmly anchored down as it saturates the Earth.
"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'
In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged (discerned) ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another - if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home - so that when you come together it will not be for judgment." - 1 Corinthians 11:23-34a ESV
Putting aside the power of things. It is not the bread or the wine that has the power... but communion is powerful. Real communion when a person fellowships with God and God reveals Himself to that person in mingling intimacy. God giving his Son so that men and women might have mental, emotional and spiritual nourishment.
I think back to a principle we spoke about before involving knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Knowledge being an awareness of structure, understanding one of function and wisdom is discerning value. Do we discern the bread and the cup? Do we discern the value of people and the love God has for them? Do we discern grace?
God makes it clear... He wants us to remember Him... to commune with Him... but there is a wrong way to do it that brings harm. It can be dangerous if it is mishandled. If it is only moral. If it is impersonal. It is not about bread and wine. It is about grace and mercy! Oh yes it is.
This whole thing is about God's love for people! He sees what people go through as they suffer in a fallen world. He is holding out His hands on the threshold of the human experience. He comes as close as He possibly can without compromising His holiness or our right to choose and he calls and yearns and wants people to come so that He can fill, wash, heal and sustain them. Life is very hard. In the end God will fix all of it but living in time there are tremendous needs.
We can go through the motions of a spiritual life but lack the communion that comes from fellowship with the God of all grace. We can miss the value and be very unwise in life. It is possible... very possible... but in a moment that all goes behind us... the crisis is past when our eyes are fixed on Him... remembering Him... discerning who He is and what He has done... in Heaven sitting on a throne at the right hand of the Father, in an individual standing or sitting right beside us and manifested in a group of people.
Stop, take a minute to discern the situation and be wise. Stop and receive grace and love. Wait a moment and 'wait for one another' in the dignity of spiritual understanding.
Wisdom from above stirs up compassion in our hearts that moves us to function in faith. Let us be worshipers today as we discern the value of the one who loves us and loves the people all around us.
--
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
The Spirit Of Wisdom And Understanding
I hope to park in Isaiah 11 for awhile. There is so much to be learned here. Our mind is the primary battlefield. Partial or surface understanding leads very easily to misunderstanding and disappointment. Understanding is a treasure map that points us to the grace of God. It proceeds from, and always returns, to the Son of God. Wisdom brings us home.
Knowledge can impart the structure of something to a person. Understanding can show the function of something but it takes wisdom to see the value of a thing or a dynamic.
Recently at a question and answer time after a men's meeting P Butch Veader gave a great practical example of this principle. He talked a learning how to use a tool from an old craftsman. The experienced man makes it look easy but it is not until you have the tool in your hand try to use it that you see the nuances of it's use. If you are just handed a tool you have never used before you analyse the structure. There is a certain way you hold it... maybe you turn it over in your hands and try to process the structure of the tool. Understanding is putting it to use correctly. Knowledge moves into understanding. The skilled craftsman shows you and corrects your technique. If you are wise you listen to the man with years of experience. The arrogant but zealous young man who will not listen will make many mistakes. The passive man may not make as many mistakes but will also not have a great volume of results. The wise person with both knowledge and understanding can have great success in applying that knowledge.
"And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear" - Isaiah 11:2-3 ESV
A spiritual person has a different value system. Structure, understanding and value have a divine aspect to them. The Spirit reveals a creator behind everything in nature... a natural man looks at a beautiful woman and may see an object to be possessed, lusted after or appreciated but a spiritual man see a Heavenly Father standing behind that woman and focuses his eyes of the divine which places the natural in perspective. Wisdom does not change the structure or something or someone but it can change the use and assessment of value radically.
Smart people look and hear and process information in practical insightful ways. Wise people process value.
Grace amplifies and reveals the value of each human being. Jesus' love manifested on the cross shows a value system that must be grace oriented... the Father's love to send Him... the Spirit's love to reveal it to us... to pay so much for so many who will never respond must be grace.
The Spirit of Grace is the Spirit of truth.
God fill us with your Spirit today. Make us wise people who discern structure and function in wisdom. People who see grace and learn it from the master craftsman... not independent and not passive... strangers and pilgrims moving through life following Jesus and hearing His words each step of the way.
--
Knowledge can impart the structure of something to a person. Understanding can show the function of something but it takes wisdom to see the value of a thing or a dynamic.
Recently at a question and answer time after a men's meeting P Butch Veader gave a great practical example of this principle. He talked a learning how to use a tool from an old craftsman. The experienced man makes it look easy but it is not until you have the tool in your hand try to use it that you see the nuances of it's use. If you are just handed a tool you have never used before you analyse the structure. There is a certain way you hold it... maybe you turn it over in your hands and try to process the structure of the tool. Understanding is putting it to use correctly. Knowledge moves into understanding. The skilled craftsman shows you and corrects your technique. If you are wise you listen to the man with years of experience. The arrogant but zealous young man who will not listen will make many mistakes. The passive man may not make as many mistakes but will also not have a great volume of results. The wise person with both knowledge and understanding can have great success in applying that knowledge.
"And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear" - Isaiah 11:2-3 ESV
A spiritual person has a different value system. Structure, understanding and value have a divine aspect to them. The Spirit reveals a creator behind everything in nature... a natural man looks at a beautiful woman and may see an object to be possessed, lusted after or appreciated but a spiritual man see a Heavenly Father standing behind that woman and focuses his eyes of the divine which places the natural in perspective. Wisdom does not change the structure or something or someone but it can change the use and assessment of value radically.
Smart people look and hear and process information in practical insightful ways. Wise people process value.
Grace amplifies and reveals the value of each human being. Jesus' love manifested on the cross shows a value system that must be grace oriented... the Father's love to send Him... the Spirit's love to reveal it to us... to pay so much for so many who will never respond must be grace.
The Spirit of Grace is the Spirit of truth.
God fill us with your Spirit today. Make us wise people who discern structure and function in wisdom. People who see grace and learn it from the master craftsman... not independent and not passive... strangers and pilgrims moving through life following Jesus and hearing His words each step of the way.
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