Please see "history of emo/dat and new development" for previous versions. See verses at bottom of post for verse references.
This is a far more biblically based view. Proverbs asks us to seek after three things:
KNOWLEDGE we consider to be pure academic facts.
UNDERSTANDING is modeling those facts such that you understand how the work together, why people did what they did, etc. It probably also includes what to do now that you know these things, although that may be the region of wisdom. (see Job 36:26, Ps 119:130)
WISDOM is might be 'understanding 'what to do now that you know this stuff, but it most certainly includes doing it. - All three of these are the data side, your brain. (For the first three verses I found with wisdom see Prov 2:12-19, 19:11, Mt 25:1-19)
Now, the emotional size comes from belief and the heart. With the exception of wisdom including actions, the data size is only academia, intelligence, and a conscience. Evil masterminds and your next door neighbor may have all these things, but they may still try to take over the world and not apologize for accidentally smashing your marigolds with his lawnmower. These people may know the truth, but not act it out, or even wish to act it out.
BELIEF, however, is actually treating what your wisdom tells you to do based on your understanding of knowledge as true, and will immediately, naturally, manifest itself in actions that are in wise accordance with what you know.
The HEART is where these beliefs reside. Romans 10:10 says "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
FAITH then, is a measure and/or category of our belief, because (Hebrews 11:1) "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." and it can come in degrees (Romans 12:1) "...in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." and Mt 17:20 "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed..."
DATA, therefore, is the cold region, before it is true to you and has saving properties.
EMOTION and ACTIONS is the natural manifestation of belief.
12 May 2012
02 May 2012
Rewards
This is one of those posts explaining the meaning of a biblical concept.
Rewards. Often we dislike the idea of rewards in heaven because it sounds selfish. I mean, the last will be first and the first will be last, right? And we don't want to be in Christianity because it will give us selfish things at the end, our true reward will be Jesus and that will be all we need, right?
YES! Yes to both of those. Perfectly true. God's awesome. But think about the first idea. The last will be first. He or she who serves others on earth will be exalted more in heaven....yes? Is GOOD! Now I must say, haven will be gloriously magnificent beyond the acceptable capacities of our human brains and another hundred times over, absolutely regardless of how well you served Gods will on earth. BUT, rewards will still be awesome. They're in the bible. So they're true, they're there. They exist. So why did God make them? Not for us to avoid because we don't want to be selfish. I mean, accepting Jesus's gift is the most selfish thing of all! Putting your cruddy, cruddy sins on the shoulders of an innocent man, the one who loves you so much, where each sin condemns him to excruciating death and separation from his father the only source of life and happiness in the universe...! um, VERY selfish. So do not be ashamed to pursue rewards in heaven. I mean, you need motivation anyways. If you could just die right now, or live life lazily until you died, and end up with the same result in heaven, well, you'd DO that! And that would be silly. Not only because living in Gods will is like the most true, hard, and riotous adventure ever (well, the world has been tainted by sin so it doesn't feel very great), but also because there are rewards!!!!!
Ok break time. One caveats to keep you out of trouble. Gods will for you might be very humble and simple. Might be primarily diligent prayer, working for 20 years at a nursing home where the patients are out of it so much they never understand why you're helping them, or it might be slaving in India for 15 years trying to translate the bible and getting only 1 convert (William Carey, father of modern missions). Whatever the case, that does not mean your reward will be small. God has different scales than we do. Trust him. If you follow his bidding, you'll be awesome.
Peace be with you
Rewards. Often we dislike the idea of rewards in heaven because it sounds selfish. I mean, the last will be first and the first will be last, right? And we don't want to be in Christianity because it will give us selfish things at the end, our true reward will be Jesus and that will be all we need, right?
YES! Yes to both of those. Perfectly true. God's awesome. But think about the first idea. The last will be first. He or she who serves others on earth will be exalted more in heaven....yes? Is GOOD! Now I must say, haven will be gloriously magnificent beyond the acceptable capacities of our human brains and another hundred times over, absolutely regardless of how well you served Gods will on earth. BUT, rewards will still be awesome. They're in the bible. So they're true, they're there. They exist. So why did God make them? Not for us to avoid because we don't want to be selfish. I mean, accepting Jesus's gift is the most selfish thing of all! Putting your cruddy, cruddy sins on the shoulders of an innocent man, the one who loves you so much, where each sin condemns him to excruciating death and separation from his father the only source of life and happiness in the universe...! um, VERY selfish. So do not be ashamed to pursue rewards in heaven. I mean, you need motivation anyways. If you could just die right now, or live life lazily until you died, and end up with the same result in heaven, well, you'd DO that! And that would be silly. Not only because living in Gods will is like the most true, hard, and riotous adventure ever (well, the world has been tainted by sin so it doesn't feel very great), but also because there are rewards!!!!!
Ok break time. One caveats to keep you out of trouble. Gods will for you might be very humble and simple. Might be primarily diligent prayer, working for 20 years at a nursing home where the patients are out of it so much they never understand why you're helping them, or it might be slaving in India for 15 years trying to translate the bible and getting only 1 convert (William Carey, father of modern missions). Whatever the case, that does not mean your reward will be small. God has different scales than we do. Trust him. If you follow his bidding, you'll be awesome.
Peace be with you
Using biblical truth
For a long time I have struggled against Christianese, the language Christ-followers so often use that means so much to us, but so little to those, most of them newer Christians, who don't understand the concepts completely. Every time I realize the true definition and use of a term, I stew in mild anger, thinking about the thousands of people who were in my position, not understanding but more importantly not realizing the glorious truths of the bible.
So finally I came up with a solution. From time to time I have and will continue to post interpretations of words and concepts as I learn them, but this is a general rule which I will describe in the rest of this post: You have not fully learned a concept or word, you have not yet fully realized its implications and taken to heart its life-giving support for your spirit, until it becomes practical. Practical means that you use it with intentional, separate meaning. You recognize it when you see it, you consider it relevant to many situations and ask questions about its status. You depend on it like a mathematical equation or a sociological pattern. It gives you joy to see it, it gives you great joy - you feel it in your heart - when you finally realize its full meaning. It's tangible. For those of you who are visual thinkers, it has a clearly defined color, shade, shape, dimensions, etc. They are abstract concepts, but they are far less abstract than you think. For musical or language thinkers... I don't know. Maybe its syllables are pronounced clearly in your head, the background noise fades. For kinetic thinkers like me, it no longer has a fog around it, no ill-defined gray cushion around the cube. You can hold it, it's sharp (ish).
Here are some comparisons. When you consider a baseball player you ask, "what's his batting average?" or looking at a house, "Does it have a plain concrete or finished basement?". In the same way you might ask a fellow believer, "how much grace have you been feeling/seeing from God lately?" and I mean literally feeling or seeing. When grace, good things and help from God, becomes clear in your head, you SEE it when, for instance, some random person you meet at Church happens to work at a carpet company and can replace your carpets for cheap. Everything is controlled by God. Or, for instance, you may ask a ministry, "Do you primarily rely on community or personal devotions or some combination of the two to be built up?" You USE it. USE it.
So my friends, when you hear grace, love, peace, joy or other words. When you hear of running the race, Jesus living inside of you, dying with him, carrying your cross (something I don't understand yet), heavenly treasure, administering justice to the oppressed, etc, etc. Do NOT, I repeat do NOT dismiss them as just words. Know that you don't understand them and be at peace. Keep a keen eye out for understanding them, and when you see them in the bible, stop for a little while. Dwell, look, research a little. Find. And you will be pleased by another one of the pleasures at our lords right hand.
Peace be with you.
So finally I came up with a solution. From time to time I have and will continue to post interpretations of words and concepts as I learn them, but this is a general rule which I will describe in the rest of this post: You have not fully learned a concept or word, you have not yet fully realized its implications and taken to heart its life-giving support for your spirit, until it becomes practical. Practical means that you use it with intentional, separate meaning. You recognize it when you see it, you consider it relevant to many situations and ask questions about its status. You depend on it like a mathematical equation or a sociological pattern. It gives you joy to see it, it gives you great joy - you feel it in your heart - when you finally realize its full meaning. It's tangible. For those of you who are visual thinkers, it has a clearly defined color, shade, shape, dimensions, etc. They are abstract concepts, but they are far less abstract than you think. For musical or language thinkers... I don't know. Maybe its syllables are pronounced clearly in your head, the background noise fades. For kinetic thinkers like me, it no longer has a fog around it, no ill-defined gray cushion around the cube. You can hold it, it's sharp (ish).
Here are some comparisons. When you consider a baseball player you ask, "what's his batting average?" or looking at a house, "Does it have a plain concrete or finished basement?". In the same way you might ask a fellow believer, "how much grace have you been feeling/seeing from God lately?" and I mean literally feeling or seeing. When grace, good things and help from God, becomes clear in your head, you SEE it when, for instance, some random person you meet at Church happens to work at a carpet company and can replace your carpets for cheap. Everything is controlled by God. Or, for instance, you may ask a ministry, "Do you primarily rely on community or personal devotions or some combination of the two to be built up?" You USE it. USE it.
So my friends, when you hear grace, love, peace, joy or other words. When you hear of running the race, Jesus living inside of you, dying with him, carrying your cross (something I don't understand yet), heavenly treasure, administering justice to the oppressed, etc, etc. Do NOT, I repeat do NOT dismiss them as just words. Know that you don't understand them and be at peace. Keep a keen eye out for understanding them, and when you see them in the bible, stop for a little while. Dwell, look, research a little. Find. And you will be pleased by another one of the pleasures at our lords right hand.
Peace be with you.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)