Saturday, January 30, 2021

Knowledge vs. Love


Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. -1 Corinthians 8:1b, LSV

If ever there were a stark contrast, this is one of them. It is not as if knowledge is bad. Only that it does not satisfy.

What is meant by "knowledge" here? St. Paul, by the Holy Spirit, uses the word transliterated as "gnosis." Without getting into all the philosophical jargon that attends to mindfulness, "knowledge" is what you perceive as facts gained from your experience.

Among such things may be counted the alphabet, the words you can speak, and the ideas you are able to comprehend because of those words. Moreover, even without words, the experiences you have added to that knowledge.

How is it that these things puff you up and make you arrogant and conceited? Well, take a moment to reflect on how you treat your neighbor with your knowledge. Chances are, you are ready, willing, and able to call them all idiots and fools.

As for "love," its object and purpose is quite different, beginning with the forgiveness obtained by Christ Jesus upon the Cross for all mankind. There is no stronger demonstration of love than shown by forgiveness, whether it be of the idiot or of the fool, for such we all are and have been.

Love builds up because it is born of the One Who has built His church upon Himself by the laying down of His flesh-and-blood life and taking it up again for all the world's transgressions. Love builds up because the Maker of all things undertook in love to incorporate poor sinners into His body and kingdom.

It is not within your own powers to change your knowledge into love. Do not even try. The renewing of your mind is the work of Christ Jesus through His Word and Spirit. You abide in Him, and He will continue to conform you according to His image as He is brought to bear in your midst through His apostolic ministry in your local parish.
+ + +

Sunday, November 1, 2020

The Great Tribulation


These are those who are coming out of the Great Tribulation, and they washed their robes, and they made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. -Revelation 7:14b, LSV

The Great Tribulation as referenced in the Book of Revelation is nothing more, and nothing less, than all of time from when Adam fell into sin until such time as Christ returns in glory.

No one born of a woman into this world is without tribulation. Indeed, even birth itself has come with great pain from the time of, and as a result of, Adam's choice to heed the voice of his wife as opposed to the Word of the LORD.

The LORD God from the begining has made known that Adam's choice was not, and is not, the end or overall purpose of history. No. Creation and all of history is subject for a time to futility, to a Great Tribulation, so that salvation will belong to the One Who created and sustains all things from beginning to end.

Whether you are inside or outside of this overall purpose and plan of God - whether you perish eternally or are saved eternally - is not only of great concern to Him, but also of great concern to you and to your neighbor, for it is you and your neighbor who are created in the image of God.

The Great Tribulation: thorns and thistles are only the start. Anxiety and death are the end. Idolatry and pride are the means. These all stick like glue to the creation for a while.

They are broken free and healed only through God's Only-Begotten from eternity, Jesus the Christ, Who with His own flesh and blood has redeemed you, a lost and condemned person, together with His whole creation so that a new heaven and earth will come about after the Great Tribulation into which you were born.
+ + +

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Humility


[If] My people on whom My Name is called are humbled, and pray, and seek My face, and turn back from their evil ways, then I hear from the heavens, and forgive their sin, and heal their land. -2 Chronicles 7:14

Humility is a virtue which, upon being claimed, is immediately lost. It cannot be taken up at will. It cannot be turned on and off like a light switch. It is rather a blessing that comes not through your own efforts, but by the grace of God through His creation and discipline.

Humility is an attribute of those upon whom God has placed His Name. As such it belongs to, and is charactistic only of those whom He baptizes and teaches.

With the above in mind, what is humility? The definition at hand is this: a modest or low view of one's own importance.

If you take this definition in conjunction with your status as a creature and child of God, it is plainly apparent that you are not the boss you think you are. You do not have control over as many things as you think you do.

Humility never looks to itself, but comes from God, Who from the beginning has ordained that He be your only Hope, Help, and Comfort in life. No other thing or person is to be honored, reverenced, or thanked more than He.

Once this is understood, your notion of self is brought into true accord with God's holy will. You are free to be not yourself, but God's own child. It is He in Whom you find your identity.

Moreover, your dealings with those around you - your family and your neighbors - will not be high handed or heavy handed, but will be tempered by the certitude and solicities that obtain to being a creature and child of God.

Christ Jesus, Who took on the form of a servant, is the Name of God placed upon you. With His Name comes His substance and blessing, for He is not a God Who is far away, but Who draws so near as to incorporate you into His own Body and Blood, living, present, and active for you before the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort.

Therefore it is for you to pray, and for God you hear and to heal not only you but the land in which you live. Thanks be to God, it is He Who causes these things, and not you.

+ + +