An excerpt from a project of mine/link 2 book

thanks for the Word of encouragement, insight and wisdom, Mr.Smith

Truth in Process

 

Truth is often found in the tension between two facts that seem to contradict each other.  Seldom is the black verses white conventional and commonly accepted version the whole truth. 

It is a fact that God made the world, called it good and loves the world especially all the people.  It is a fact that the world can be a pretty miserable place sometimes and it is a lot of work just to feel OK.

It is true that God’s will is for all creation to willfully, intentionally, and purposefully choose to live in perfect love and harmony.  It is also true that all of creation is currently not doing that.

It is a fact that bad things, sometimes really bad things, happen to people who are good.  Sometimes bad things happen to people who are abiding with God.

It is true that when people are abiding with the Divine Us by being continuously aware of God’s presence and accessing the comforting, wise counsel of the Holy Spirit they still manage to occasionally do or say dumb things that are not at all similar to the type of thing Jesus modeled for them.

The tension between these facts leads us to the truth of process.

Imagine a guitar and pay particular attention to the strings.  The guitar strings are full of tension as they are pulled tight between fixed points.  It is true that this is a guitar and those are guitar strings.  These are observable facts.  In order to hear the truth the guitar tells the strings must be plucked or strummed.  As these guitar strings are held in the imagination of the mind’s eyes they are seen as blurry.  This is a result of their motion while being played.  The ear however may perceive the truth told by the guitar strings and the guitar.  The listening ear hears the truth while the focused eye perceives the process of producing the music. 

The truth sounds like music from a well tuned and skillfully played guitar.  Deception always sounds out of tune even when produced by the artful deceiver.

The truth, rather than being black and white, more often resembles the shades of grey produced by guitar strings while they are being plucked or strummed.

This is a fact.  It is a directive from Jesus to the student of God.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind;” and, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

This is a fact as well.  It was written by the prophet Isaiah.

“The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.”   Isaiah 33:5-6 (NIV)

How is the attitude of love for God entirely possible if the Christ Follower is also directed to fear God as well?

If being saved means being protected from the power of the adversary why do bad things happen to people who are abiding with God? 

Why does life seem so hard and out of control sometimes even for those who have truly trusted the circumstances of their life to a benevolent, sovereign God? 

If God has promised to bless us with wisdom if we simply ask for it why is it so easy to feel so dumb?

These are facts.  The Prophet Isaiah writes the Word he has heard from the Lord God. 

“By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’   Isaiah 45:23 (ESV)

Paul writes of the gospel revealed to him by Jesus.

“For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”  1 Timothy 4:10 (ESV)

These are facts as well.  

“From the Apostle Peter- …the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”   2 Peter 3:7 (ESV)

Jesus said – “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28 (ESV)

And from the Book of Hebrews – “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”   Hebrews 10:39 (ESV)

Truth is discovered in a process and coming to a fuller knowledge of the truth is a process that will continue for a person’s entire life.  The truth is often found in the tension between two facts. 

Jesus teaches that the Kingdom of God is like a farmer who prepares the soil and plants seeds.  The farmer then fertilizes and waters them.  The farmer knows the process.  He sees the seed grow and become nutritious and delicious fruits and vegetables.  The fact that this does happen is clear to the farmer.  Exactly how it happens is mysterious to him though.

As people abide with God and enjoy God’s continual presence the same is true of them.  The Word of God, both written in the Bible and whispered in their heart, is as the seed of the good fruit to be produced in their life.  Their heart is uncluttered by distraction, tender and receptive to the Words of God.  It is carefully prepared as the farmer prepares the soil for the planting of natural seed.  Heavenly rain alive with the Spirit of God nurtures the Word and refreshes the heart.  The fertilizer of their current circumstance compels them to persist and push through until the harvest is realized.  The harvest is the heart that bears the fruit of true and divine love expressed in kindness, compassion and wisdom. The harvest is also the end of this age and the beginning of the next as the Kingdom of God fills both the entire earth and the hearts of every man.

The truth is a process and coming to a fuller knowledge of the truth is a process that will continue for a person’s entire life. 

The truth is often found in the tension between two facts. 

Questions about heaven, hell and judgment as well as the perspective scripture provides concerning the kindness and severity of God are examples of seemingly contradictory facts that provide a perfect tension designed to lead the reader to profound truth. 

Finding the truth in the tension between these ideas requires both an investigative eye focused on facts as well as a discerning ear that is able to distinguish the beautiful music of Creator and creation in harmony from the slightly off key and discordant deception which originates in the wisdom of this present evil age and has no place in God’s purposeful plan of the ages.

The listening ear hears the truth while the focused eye perceives the process of producing the music.  The truth sounds like music from a well tuned and skillfully played instrument.  Deception always sounds out of tune even when produced by the artful deceiver.

The work entitled "SIMPLE" authored by David Saunders may be found on Kindle by following this link.  If you don't have Kindle all you have to do is sign up with Amazon and download the free application to your computer. 

http://www.amazon.com/SIMPLE-ebook/dp/B00B88J9S2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369408917&sr=8-1&keywords=simple+david+saunders

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