Godlythinking         

Are Your Ways My Ways

Some people struggle to understand the bible especially when they begin to read the bible on a regular basis. The problem of understanding the bible depends on a number of factors. For example, one contributing factor is the time, date and where the bible was originally translated.  The wording used is always the spoken language of the date of translation.

Understanding the bible may be the reason there are so many versions of the bible. One of the more popular versions was translated over four hundred years ago but the current language and sentence structure has changed dramatically since then. The versions published after 1980 have updated the language and sentence structure to the spoken language of our day.

Understanding the bible depends more on you wanting to understand God than anything else.  Even then it takes time to understand God because he does not think in the manner men do.  To understand God our mind has to see things from God’s outlook on life. Therefore our mind must be reorganized with an effort to renew our mind.

This alone means we must place a priority in changing our habits to accommodate the renewing of our mind. Before we were saved we thought exactly the way the world did and were not conscious of sin or its toll on our lives.  Renewing our mind is a simple way of changing the way we think to reflect our Lord’s thoughts and ways through our deeds and personal witness.

We understand how the world thinks because we are constantly exposed to it every day but to understand God we must habitually expose our eyes to his inspired word. Before we can begin to understand the bible we need to understand the way the author thinks. In some ways the inspired word of God can be like a citizen of New Delhi trying to explain to a person living in Boston what Chana Dal is. What I mean is the bible has a terminology of its own but the explanation may take some time to comprehend.  

A simple digest of the bible reveals Jesus Christ as an example of the person God desires. For the most part the bible speaks of the behavior of worldly people and the consequences from their deeds of good and evil. On the other hand the bible was written for God’s children to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). The overall pictures in the bible gives us a comparison to understand the effect of our deeds and the knowledge of what our heavenly father expects.  At the same time the bible demonstrates a need for discipline and the restraint from committing sin.

Another synopsis of the bible tells us that Heaven is God’s home but his way of life is completely different from what we experience every day. For example what we call days and years is based on the rotation of the sun and since God is eternal his way to describe time is called ages.

In harmony with the bible every sin that corrupts and contaminates our world is not permitted in heaven. The bible tells us to love one another because the evil nature of sin ruins relationships. Living with one another must be cultivated with God’s royal law of love which continually builds one another up with dignity. To love God’s way demands that you deny self by ridding yourselves of selfishness by serving the needs of one another specifically to honor our creator.

Being an outstanding communicator God has found words that convey his divine principles covering a full range of behavior skills.  Conducting yourself according to God’s divine principles will fulfill the royal law of love and make eternal life enjoyable. These divine principles restrain evil from gaining a foothold in your life and inhibit the repercussions from sin from taking place.

The principles of God’s love develop respectable character appreciated by your fellow man. 1 Peter 3:13 tells us who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? Galatians 6:7 tells us a man reaps what he sows.

The seed you cast through your deeds will produce fruit according to the kind sown. Without careful consideration deeds can be sown without a concern of whom they affect. By the same token good deeds can improve the wellbeing of others. One way is self-serving and tears down but the other way recognizes the other person as an important part of your life with a desire to make their life better.  

God saw that it was not good for the man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). Since he understood the importance of relationships created a help mate as a lifetime companion. God understood that life without someone to share your feelings with would be exasperating.  God created the earth to be filled with human inhabitants that would live in harmony with each other.  Still the man God created was designed to live forever and gave him the right to make decisions according to his outlook on life. God also gave man the right to become children of God and sees that his children live according to his experience and wisdom.

God gave mankind the right to ignore him but with horrible consequences. In this world life is precious and we make every effort to avoid death because we unconsciously know of the judgment day.  If the world only knew a small part the penalty for ignoring God plans they would choose to serve God willingly. For that reason God say my people perish for a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6).

God has certain expectations from mankind if they want eternal life. The reward of going to Heaven would affect the peace of God’s home and he doesn’t want it corrupted with sin. On the other hand God’s children want to live in God’s paradise without sin or the pain and suffering caused by sin.

Man is face with a need to change his ways to accommodate God’s overall plan.  Any place without pain and suffering demands a desire to work towards those goals. Within God’s word is an positive approach to life that tells man what is expected of him to maintain his residence in peace and rest. At the same time he has plans for our future that requires productivity.

 Productivity demand workers that agree to work together for common goals. The bible says something that seems out of place regarding the tower of babel but is absolutely essential to productivity.   

The Lord said, nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. However they were building the tower without God’s consent. The bible says with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26) but apart from God you can do nothing (John 15:5). Therefore God’s wisdom is essential in everything we do.

The word of God reveals that you may know God (John 17:3) but are you willing to listen to and obey your heavenly father, who makes this plea;

God’s ways are considerably different from those of mankind but with an outcome that reap eternal benefits. The bible tells us what God’s ways are but they are so different from what we are used to that we are leery of trying them out. At the same time the bible tells us to;

As created human beings we have an obligation to know and understand what God expects of mankind. The world we live in is no piece of cake to overcome but we have the help of a Savior who has overcome the world. Salvation is for those who invite Jesus into their heart and obey him. This fulfills an Old Testament Prophesy to ensure your safe arrival into God’s Kingdom with the hope eternal salvation that is not possible without God. God promised to work with us to accomplish his and our goals;

Heaven is assured when we learn God’s thoughts and ways then genuinely adopt and apply his ways to the way we live.

4/22/2014

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