Weekly Thought – October 20, 2020
Fred emphasized learning as a critical element in maturity and healthy living. One of his friends told him, “Fred, you should go to bed each night knowing less than you knew when you woke up.” He meant we should recognize the vastness of knowledge, never thinking we have mastered it.
During this year the BWFLI campus visits were put on hold. Plans are being made for 2021 and a format which will allow students nationwide to participate through ZOOM and other online chat platforms. Please continue to pray. Thank you for your ongoing support.
Expanded Realization of God
A dilemma arises when thinking about what life in Christ means. I feel smaller as the realization of my Christian identity increases. It never makes me feel bigger but always smaller, and we live in a society that resists anything that reduces our individual identity. An interesting thing happens as I feel smaller, I feel more a part of the Christ-life. I fit in better.
As I increase my realization of God I also increase my ignorance and so the focus moves from knowledge to ignorance for on the periphery of expanded knowledge is always increased ignorance. This ignorance that gives me my excitement and expectation. It is not reviewing what I know but learning what I don’t know that makes life exciting.
1) I am a living soul. One of the most important people in my life was an illiterate woman who worked in a cotton mill for $2.50 a week and lived in a little row house. Shortly before Mrs. Carter died she said, “Fred, pretty soon you’ll hear that Mrs. Carter is dead. Don’t believe it. I’ll be more alive than I’ve ever been in all my life.” I believe that. This living soul of hers and mine will live eternally. This is too big for me to comprehend, but it is the first consideration of my Christian identity.
2) I am a child of God. I am more than a servant, more than a representative, not merely a creature of God, but through the new birth in Christ I am a child of God. Jesus is my brother. I am now a member of the family.
3) My body is the temple of the Spirit – “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” This is the story of Pentecost. This is what the disciples waited for. The spirit is resident, not a consultant. Nor a visitor, but a permanent resident. The spirit is the enabler who lets me say “I can get divine help.” The spirit’s filling means I can be fulfilled. I can overcome temptation, for none comes my way that doesn’t also bring at least one escape hatch and exit ramp. The spirit facilitates conversation with God. And it lets me verify truth by the “witness of the spirit.”
4) I am a witness – We too often talk about giving a witness, meaning a testimony. But life in Christ makes me a living witness. I can wish I were not a witness or even try not to be a witness. I can be a bad witness, but all the same – I am a witness. My friend JoyLynn Hailey Reed, the PhD professor says, “You cannot not communicate.” If you are His, you are a witness to what you are becoming.
This week think about: 1) What shows me how my realization of God is enlarging? 2) Which of Fred’s points can be lived out this week? 3) How am I strengthening my witness for Christ?
Words of Wisdom: “We too often talk about giving a witness, meaning a testimony. But life in Christ makes me a living witness.”
Wisdom from the Word: “He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that everyone might believe through him.”(John 1:7 NET Bible)