some quick thoughts
Today the pastor talked about scripture as spiritual food and the difference between spiritual milk and spirtual solid food (or meat). This was good to hear, and I definitely do want to spend more time in scripture particularly because I've regained my faith in the Bible as the Word of God. The thoughts that were running through the back of my mind during the message, however, revolved around spiritual milk and spiritual meat.
First, I find it interesting the tendency in Christendom to transide neatly from spiritual milk to spiritual cheese without much further progression. Some examples of what I consider spiritual cheese include ideas such as, "Let go and let God," "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it," and about 75% of the merchandise at any Christian bookstore. I would like to explore this concept further, but not now.
Second, I considered my training and upbringing. I feel that I got a lot of meat without ever getting the milk, and I did not know properly how to process the meat, so it did not make me healthy. Before I gained a basic understanding of God's love, I understood concepts such as original sin; justification, sanctification, and glorification; the imputation of our sins to Christ and the corresponding imputation of Christ's righteousness to us; the difference between covenental theology and dispensational theology; Arminianism and Calvinism; etc. I swallowed all of this eagerly, but did not process it fully. Because of this, I did not grow correctly, and God had to dig in deep and tear away what I had become until all that was left was a very fundamental faith. The image of Eustace and Aslan in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader comes to mind.
I think that it takes the heart of a child to grasp the basic purity of God's love both for the world and for me as an individual. I have always felt old, ever since I was a child. But now I feel like a babe in Christ. I hunger for that spiritual milk, and even as I fill myself with it, I find myself hungering for spiritual meat. God give me wisdom, patience, and perserverence.
First, I find it interesting the tendency in Christendom to transide neatly from spiritual milk to spiritual cheese without much further progression. Some examples of what I consider spiritual cheese include ideas such as, "Let go and let God," "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it," and about 75% of the merchandise at any Christian bookstore. I would like to explore this concept further, but not now.
Second, I considered my training and upbringing. I feel that I got a lot of meat without ever getting the milk, and I did not know properly how to process the meat, so it did not make me healthy. Before I gained a basic understanding of God's love, I understood concepts such as original sin; justification, sanctification, and glorification; the imputation of our sins to Christ and the corresponding imputation of Christ's righteousness to us; the difference between covenental theology and dispensational theology; Arminianism and Calvinism; etc. I swallowed all of this eagerly, but did not process it fully. Because of this, I did not grow correctly, and God had to dig in deep and tear away what I had become until all that was left was a very fundamental faith. The image of Eustace and Aslan in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader comes to mind.
I think that it takes the heart of a child to grasp the basic purity of God's love both for the world and for me as an individual. I have always felt old, ever since I was a child. But now I feel like a babe in Christ. I hunger for that spiritual milk, and even as I fill myself with it, I find myself hungering for spiritual meat. God give me wisdom, patience, and perserverence.
posted by transfigure @ 10:39 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home