so do you think we are arguing about the wrong things?
do you think that maybe we are getting stopped up and wrapped up in talking and bickering about the wrong things?
i think maybe we have. and by we, i mean i.
i'm so quick to want to have the best argument or to not be willing to change positions, because if i do, i am called to change.
but i claim to be a woman who loves Truth, who seeks after that which is right and good.
how is it that this fight is against one another? not that heresy or bad exegesis is okay. not that we should be okay with bad teaching, but how do we get in these fights that aren't about the things that really matter? how does the enemy convince that the goal is to be right about things that cannot be known? the problem is an has always been that humans want to be like God and it is not possible.
i just keep thinking about how many talks i have heard on the dangers of post-modernity and how it is going to be the downfall of the whole earth. ever since Genesis 3 the world has been headed to downfall, the whole Noahic flood thing was because of how screwed up things got and the whole New Covenant Jesus thing is about redeeming this screwed up place.
we live in this world, Jesus calls us to be in the world, but not of the world. and in the world post-modernity is happening. it simply cannot be stopped. that is not the fight. worldviews are wrong. the only worldview that is correct is the one Jesus holds. the Truth that He came to bring a new kingdom, He came to redeem all things. He came that His people might have life and have it abundantly, if we are willing to lose our lives, to gain them.
what good is it to have a great rebuttal for post-modernity, if it is simply another messed up worldview? is modernity any better? no. its not. it is still not the Gospel of Jesus. the fight becomes about who's writing what and what are they insinuating. then its about whether or not we should do whatever. this fight becomes about things, instead of about Jesus. the point is not that living out this life is unimportant, but that believers are able to live out this life by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the Truths that have been laid out for us in the Scriptures. when the battle begins to be about people and those who represent the "others" those who disagree, then we lose. because the reality is that the battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and principalities of darkness. this is a spiritual battle, that we fight against the deceiver, against the one who tries to hold us in bondage to sin. but the battle is not fought with weapons of this world, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
every person that walks the face of the earth bears the image of the One True God. every person. so there is no "enemy" of the flesh that can be of little or no value, because each person is an image bearer he is important. because he is known by God the Father, he is important. that's just true. yet i am prone to see those who disagree with me or those who would seek harm for me as my enemies. Jesus says take care of them, LOVE them. how insane.
why is it that i continue to look to what is true, but don't live out what i already know is true?
Jesus says to love one another, that is how they will know who His disciples are, by their love. but i'm too busy trying to be "right" to love.
we fight about doctrine and the way to study the Word and all of these issues. they are important, but they are important not because they will lead us to life abundant but because they are supposed to help us to seek the Father, His Kingdom and to be like Him. not so we can squander away the precious time we have to live out these truths that we find.
i don't have any conclusions, i don't know what this looks like practically, but i am beginning to think that maybe it doesn't look a certain way, but it is the Way. it doesn't seem like Jesus cared all that much about pragmatism either. He calls us to trust Him with everything, to lay down our lives, that He will bring them back up in the resurrection.
yet, i seek after all the things of this world, what's worse is i try to make is spiritual, so its even more shameful. Jesus says what good is it if a man gains the whole world, but loses his soul? i think that is the question.
