January 09, 2014
Show of Support
During a potentially confrontational meeting the
audience was silent and the chairman then complimented them saying that their silence
on the matter was a “show of support” for the work that went into an agreement.
I love the way this was handled on all sides because it toned down and defused
the situation. However, when I apply this same scenario to the Church I come
away with a different feeling. Around every corner people of religious
convictions avoid awkward situation with silence, not only in our beliefs, but
for any and every potential demonstration of the faith we have in Christ. Our
keeping quiet on Scriptural matters results in a show of support to those who
want to silence the Lord.
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----I couldn’t agree with you more. Paul tells the Romans to keep the faith they had between themselves and the Lord (14:22) if all of them being fully convinced in their own minds (14:5) could not get along with each other. He understood knowledge to puff up, while it was love which builds up. The number of different situations and affairs of every life in the many cultures of all the ages of the world would expand the Word of God beyond an entire library should it need to cover every one specifically. So, it can’t. Nor would it be wise to do if it could. The believer has come to life in a Lord of wisdom and has been given a Spirit of wisdom. It is for him to develop his mind of wisdom through obedience for determining all of the issues Scripture does not specifically address.
-----It would have been nice if the Lord perfected each of us at the time we came alive in Him. He didn’t do that, either. Then the minds we have for determining these things remain flawed. Though we are assisted by the Holy Spirit in developing our wisdom, that assistance neither perfects in us all wisdom, nor duplicates identical beliefs in two or more believers. This is what Paul is talking about when he says each of us should be fully convinced in his own mind. None of us are either convinced in perfected knowledge and wisdom, nor in total knowledge and wisdom.
-----That might sound a little ignorant on God’s part to go only so far in assisting wisdom’s development, and it may sound a bit more so in tailoring that wisdom to each believer such that there will remain differences between us. But when you think about it, this extends right from the core of God’s love and grace. “Love does not demand its own way,” says the Holy Spirit through Paul. God is going to be accepting of our mental flaws, then, not in agreement with them, but in forbearance of them so He can relate to each of us what we need for where we are in life. It’s like God will be flexible with each one where He needs to be for the survival of each relationship so that His love will not be dead on demand.
-----That is not only called sacrifice, it is called mercy. But, it makes differences between us. Since God makes this sacrifice for a relationship with each of us, it greatly behooves each of us to make it for one another. Thus, we learn a great deal of sacrificial passivity wherein differences are concerned, even differences caused by actual faultiness. Now, don’t get me wrong. There are other reasons for that passivity which are actually the greater reasons for it, and which are even bolstered by the excuse of sacrificial passivity. Fear is the broadest reason; ignorance is maybe the bluntest.
-----So then, as flaws move on the scale of significance from those drawing God’s treatment of sacrificial mercy amongst us to those drawing His direct, Scriptural rebuke, we too often either fail to notice that line being crossed, or we do notice it but mask our fears, ignorance, or whatever other reasons behind passivity with that comfy feeling of a “duty to peace”.
-----From the Christian’s meekness comes forth also properly waged war when the Scriptural call is to arms. Any confusion about allowing for "differences" needs to be laid aside. When such is the call, it is about the demands of Scriptural imperative, not the differences of our own demands. So the arms can yet be taken up in love.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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