Serious question - if you read this, please chime in (even if you feel as lost as I):
How can it be that the Holy Spirit produces SELF-control? Once I am SELF-controlling, am I not out from under His control? Doesn't being out from under His control imply He is no longer producing?
Friday, January 11, 2008
Myself as idol
Thursday, January 10, 2008
More implications of a Faith-based God
I wrote about this previously, but am finding it almost all-consuming anymore so I have more thoughts (duh).
A quick perusal of the Gospels finds that Jesus often "waits" for someone's faith: "Your faith has made you well" "He didn't do many miracles there because of their lack of faith" etc.
So what if God's "agenda," His "work in this world" IS my faith. Then God's Plan, His Action, His Will is my faith, my submission. I have often found it awkward how God (as usually seen in Jesus in the Gospels) lets His plan get altered. The when and why often seem much less significant than what is being stopped (ex. Jonah: one guy's submission vs. a major city-state's repentance).
This seems to have some serious ramifications as to:
- Truth: the reason for Truth, the use of Truth
- God's love of that _____ (lost, poor, sheep, etc.)
- God's "activity in this world"
- Wisdom and/or advice in the Community/Body
- How we measure God's activity, others' activities
- Role of the Holy Spirit personally, in a local Body, globally
- "What is God's will for my life?"
- "What is God's will for Life?"
- When I work on different aspects of my "walk with God" (that's code for, "mainly my morality, especially the parts that can be seen and/or measured so I can feel good about myself - maybe even come to trust myself to be Right"), should I always start with finding the faith parts?
- If I focused on faith first, would this life (or my "walk") look different? be done differently?
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