Fruit

We read in Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
For many years, I understood this passage to mean that we were supposed to do these things.  But not too long ago, the  meaning  of the words really jumped out at me.  These things are the "fruit" of the Spirit. In other words, when we see living a life, directed and controlled but the Spirit, we will see this fruit.
An analog works really well here. Do the apples that grow on the tree make the tree an apple tree, or do they reveal that it is an apple tree? I think it's pretty clear that it's the latter.
So too with our lives.  Living a life that manifests love, joy, peace patience, kindness, etc does not make us a Christian, it reveals that we are part of the body of Christ.
The next question then is, what is being said when we do not see these things in our life?

Thoughts on vocation

Obviously, the necessity and goodness of work beyond question.  My thoughts on vocation are more about the "what" of vocation. It seems that the thought process for most in America travels along the lines of "what job can I do that will make me the most money, doing something I will enjoy?"  Not that there is anything wrong with doing a job that you enjoy and doing it in order to earn enough to support oneself, but my question is "but what job."

It may be that my thoughts are completely off base here, but I cannot help but think that the work that we do, accounting for about 1/4 of our lives, should be something of substance, that actually is good.  One thing that I have seen in the Protestant world is that of the grounds for our actions.  The question seems to be, "Is it sinful?  If not, then it is okay to do."  But is that really the case?  In Eastern Orthodoxy, the question is, "Is this helpful for my sanctification?" Something may be not sinful, but at the same time, it may be a deterrent or detrimental to our spiritual growth.  This is really something that needs to be considered.

What then about our vocation?  If at all possible, why not choose a job that will actually help others or ourselves, or even better, both?  We can get a job building widgets or we could get a job building bombs or a job building reusable water purification systems for third world countries.  

We could get a job building software for the computer gaming field or we could get a job building software for the improvement of farming practices.  I know that for some, if we are already entrenched in a particular vocation and it is not feasible to change, is one thing.  But for those who are just starting out, find a way that you can use your skills, talents and time for the actual good of others.  You know, love your neighbor.

Emotions

Somewhere along the line, someone started the thread that I don't have any emotions or feelings. But, to get right to the point,  I do.
I have spent the last 35 years of my life seeking understanding.  And one thing, among many, that I have learned, it's that emotions/feelings are a tool. Imagine a carpenter that used his hammer in every situation.  He would be a poor carpenter and many things would be damaged.  He needs to use that tool properly.  Just because he doesn't use it in every situation does not mean he doesn't have a hammer.
Emotions are a tool.  They should not be the driving force in our lives. They should not be the controlling factor.  Often times they interfere and cloud judgment.  People under the sway of anger often times do foolish things.  People under the sway of lust often act foolishly.  People controlled by sadness will sometimes act irreversibly foolish.
But then there is love. Love is not an emotion, it is not something that sweeps you off your feet.  It should be the controlling factor in our lives.  In all things we do, if we are motivated by love, we cannot go wrong.  This cannot be said about emotions.
My belief: emotions are a tool, to be used at appropriate times, but should never control us, we are to control them.
Surely, I am not perfect in this execution, but I believe I an on the right track, in a world controlled by emotions.

Typology, the butterfly effect and the hermeneutics of history

This is a really big picture concept. As you may have picked up from my various writings, the use of typology as a hermeneutical foundation is a regular practice for me.  The really encouraging part about this is (as I found out fairly recently), typology is the regular interpretive methodology of the early church fathers.  This is good news, as it is a tool that I have been steeped in for quite some time.  I must give a big thank you to Dr. Peter Leithart and Rev. James Jordan, for their methodological guidance.

Over the past while, the concept of the butterfly effect has come up, in a variety of situations and conversations.  If you are not familiar with the idea, it goes like this.  Any singular event in history may, without our realizing or understanding it, have a considerable impact on future events.  For example, as the name suggests, the beating of the wings of a butterfly, on the other side of the world, may directly impact the temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona.  

I have been thinking about this in theological/philosophical/hermeneutical ways.  If we consider that everything that is said or done, will, to some degree, affect everything else, the way we approach life should be radically different.  Of course, the ramifications of such a philosophy are overwhelming.  There is an entire spiritual realm, that some claim to be aware of, but that 99.9% of men really know next to nothing about.  The church teaches that the sins that one of us does, has a direct impact on those around us.  In spiritual terms, it very well could be that when we sin, we open ourselves and those in communion with us, up to further demonic influence.  In allowing sin a measure of influence upon us, we may be exposing or making vulnerable some aspect of our spiritual life.  The strands between us and all of those in our lives may very well be tied to one another in a way that our spiritual actions directly influence all others.

And even just in a simple physical manner, sin has ramifications.  If we allow sin into our lives and it begins to form our thinking in a particular way, that sin will begin to direct how we think, speak and act.  This, of course, will have an obvious impact on others.  

Now, if we take this concept and extend it over the entire course of human history, the possibilities are truly frightening.  It very well could be that the sins that we allow into our lives, become part of our makeup, which then is passed down as a weakness to our descendants.  Have you ever wondered why some races of people often appear to tend to be a certain way?  Like having a short temper, or externally vain, or inclined to alcoholism?  I might suggest that these supposed tendencies are actually long lived, deeply rooted, very ancient sins.  Sins that have literally become part of our genetic makeup.  

In terms of typology, the picture becomes even more amazing.  The use of typology is really an acknowledgement that God, not chance, is the author of history.  When we begin to obtain a grasp of all the inner weavings of typology all throughout the Old and New Testaments, the picture is truly stunning.  Since God did all of that, through the first 10,000 years (give or take) of history, why would we think that it is still not taking place?  Why would think that God suddenly becomes like the watchmaker, who only starts the machine and then steps back to let it run?

Of course, this picture is much, much too large to even begin to wrap our understanding around.  But the concept is intriguing.  Imagine that everything that happens, every event that we freely involve ourselves in or choose to ignore, are actually part of a very large story that is intricately intertwined with everything else.  

For me, this is exciting.  To try to learn as much as I can, to find the pieces, try to fit them together and gain understanding about how things are, why things are and how I fit in, to make it all really good.  We should never approach life in a fatalistic manner.  Instead we must approach life like a grand symphony of which we can be a part.  Some are the first chair violins, some are the guy on the triangle, that has three notes in the whole movement, but those three notes are important to a beautiful whole.  And the amazing thing is that we will never know exactly how wide or deep or long lasting our part may be.  What we choose to do tomorrow may change the life of someone else forever, in a really amazing way.

Since we serve a God of love, we cannot even begin to imagine just how beautiful and amazing this work of art actually is.  But we can know that we are a part.

Play your part well.

The value of articulation

I was driving to Rite Aid the other night and a discussion took place in my head,  an imaginary one, of course.  At this point I don't exactly remember the details of that discussion, but the overall thought was on articulation. When we are speaking, the point, at least it should be, is that we are trying to communicate something.  This may not seem like an amazing revelation, but you would be amazed at how many people do not give much regard about being articulate.  It makes perfect sense that when communicating, we should use the most accurate, succinct and appropriate words.  This means a couple of things.  First, we need a vocabulary.  The larger the vocabulary, the more accurate we can be.  Second, and this follows from the first point, we need understanding.  Not simply of what words mean, but how others use and understand words.  If we have a perfect grasp of English, but our listener has a second grade education level, our communication attempts may be in vain, if we do not understand the limitations of our listener.  Third, and this follows from the second, we need to know how and when to speak.  This involves understanding the circumstances in which we speak.  Understanding the time required to adequately communicate our message and the mentality/personality of our listener are both vital.  If we do not have enough time to communicate or if our listener is not interested, for whatever reason, we are wasting our time.

Finally, we need to learn how to listen, knowing our speaker and understanding the context in which they speak and think.  We cannot presume logic, clarity and coherence.  It very well could be that the one to whom we are listening finds a great challenge in simply trying to articulate their thoughts.

This is the biggest challenge, as frustration may quickly follow, on the part of the speaker or the listener.

But it comes down to this.  Articulation is an incredible tool with the potential for wonderful results.  Work at it.

Old Vs New part two

An additional thought that I have had, in this regard, has to do with identity.  Since the resurrection and ascension, the question of identity has been a hot one.  From the time that God called Abram out of Ur and formed "the people of God", the people of God have had a semi-ethnic identity, that is, those born of the line of Abraham, have been identified as God's chosen people.  And this was an accurate label, up until the resurrection.
But then things changed.  As I pointed out in my previous post, during the Old Covenant, all things were physical/temporal.  Because death had the final say over man, all the details of the covenant between God and his people were physical/temporal.  Because man, regardless of how godly he lived, could not look forward to an eternity of blessing in the immediate presence of God, God structured the covenant around things physical.  But the Old Covenant, with all of its physicality, was fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Not only did he perfectly fulfill all that the covenant required (as both God and man), he also took away the power of death.
Simply stated, the physical nature of the relationship between God and man has been fulfilled and faded away.  No longer do we live in a particular land, following an external, bloody sacrificial system, with physical curses for disobedience or physical blessings for obedience.  We now, as followers of Jesus Christ, the new head of the New Covenant, look forward to an eternity of blessing with God.  What this means, and what is the real point of this post, is that those persons who are born of the line of Abraham, no longer hold a special place in the sight of God.  That Old Covenant way of thinking about things has passed away. Now, those who are the people of God, are those who have been baptized into Christ.  In doing so, they have put away the physical nature of reality, they are no longer under bondage to death, they are no longer descendants of the first Adam, but are now new creatures in the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
We must think of the Jews, no longer as special because of their physical lineage, but as another people that need to be baptized into Christ.  No better, no worse.

Unity

I just read an interesting thought.  Patriarch Bartholomew, in the new book,  "Bartholomew- Apostle and Visionary", states lack of unity among Christians is dishonorable to God and shameful to us. .. but unity does not have to mean parity among denominations or confessional adjustment.  Nor does it entail acquiescence to doctrinal relativism or resignation to denominational minimalism.
The practice of unity between all the branches of Christianity is a very important goal.  But what would it look like?