Then I looked again at vanity under the sun -- Ecclesiastes 4:7
Becoming good, not being right -- that's the theme of my next 40 years, or ever how many years (or days) I am given by God. I love doctrine. I've spent quite a bit of energy to learn it. It informs us concerning the nature and ways of God Himself. It's critical. However, I fear that I have thought better than I have lived.
"This is the will of God -- your sanctification. . ." (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Yes, it's true, there are many texts that command us to think rightly about God, to grow in our knowledge of Him, and to guard the truth. The Apostle Paul calls the church "the pillar and buttress of the truth" (1 Ti 3:15). But he also says that as those who know and hold out the truth we should be "blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world" (Php 2:15).
My hope and prayer for any future I have under the sun is to become a better shiner by becoming a purer person. I won't stop learning doctrine. There's much more for me to know about God and His ways. For in sanctification, we are being made good as God is good, not good in some generic sense. Without growth in doctrinal understanding, there is no true improvement. So the focus must be on learning it to live it. I'm thinking of an application intensive maturing. Perhaps another term for this is simply Christian discipleship. Too many times I have studied Scripture in order to teach it, not do it, not taking the time to think through the implications of that particular Bible text for me and my family. I want to be more deliberate in the doing. This is God's will (Ja 1:19-27).
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