The disciples loved Jesus Christ to the limit of their natural capacity, but they did not fully understand His purpose.
And neither do we. I believe that every Christian--no matter how mature--would admit when pressed that they are nowhere near understanding Christ's purpose. Sure, with the benefit of hindsight we now see what the disciples could not--that he is the incarnate Son of God, that he came into human history to be an atoning sacrifice once and for all for all our sins, etc. And even when we boil it down to its most basic element--Christ's purpose is to lead us to the Father--there is SO much that goes into that, and it is different for each and every person who has ever lived or will live. At the same time, all we really need to focus on is discerning God's purpose for our life and pursue that, a la Rick Warren's 'Purpose Driven Life. '
This meant that they learned to watch with Him the rest of their lives.
I look forward to that. At this point in my walk, watching with Jesus seems a long way off. But, at one point, being where I am now seemed a long way off.The key word in all of this is "with." If we spend little-to-no time with Jesus, we will feel very little of His presence with us. God works in and through relationship; watching with Jesus is just another expression of that.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. John 15:4 (KJV)
Somehow, it seems, too, that the human's understanding of God's purposes change as humans are on the earth longer.
ReplyDeleteThe "crusaders" had one idea of what God was here to do.
The monks, Mother Theresa, Billy Graham, etc...had different views. Or at least they saw Him doing "His thing" in varying ways.
Sometimes, when Christians are doing things in "this generation" with little or no thinking that "God may not like it"...and compare that to the taboos of just a generation ago...I ask..."so who changed...God...or humans?" Probably us...or at least...our understanding (right? or wrong?)of Who He is...or What He is about.
Often, when I'm "with Him" I wonder what He thinks about it all.
There is some belief . . . I’m trying to think of the name, but it deals with God slowly revealing His plan to humanity a little at a time over the centuries as we mature spiritually. It’s “incremental revelation” or something like that, can’t remember where I read about it. I think this belief is often used to justify reinterpreting scripture in a non-traditional way based on the assumption that we’re now wiser than we once were and now God can feed us a little more of the truth. On the one hand this seems to make sense and sounds reasonable. On the other hand, the bible says nothing about God doing any more revealing than He’s already done (save perhaps in the final days); correct me if I’m wrong on that.
ReplyDeletecheck out this link...for what it's worth... http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2010/07/13/gods-revelation
ReplyDeleteProgressive Revelation...has it's good points and then, can be seen also as the "bain" of the Christian faith.
On the one hand, it helps explain how new generations and cultures can interpret Scripture in light of their settings...distilling the "good stuff" and applying it to "today".
On the other hand, others will say it is what happens when the good stuff is diluted by those who can't stand what others have interpreted Scripture to be saying.
Can both be right AND both be wrong?