Grace2Grow on Twitter – re Grace AND Truth
Loss of certainty in some dearly held convictions proved 2be traumatizing 2me, but tho much was stripped away, Christ appears more glorious!
have we made an “idol” of certainty? at what point do we move from questioning to conviction?
I was askd what convictions hv been stripped away? 1st would be the importance of “believing rightly” vs. trusting God 2grow &preserve me.
Another…my singleness-perpetuating beliefs re what biblical masculine headship should look like. NO man could’v lived up 2my expectations!
another bad conviction…Ppl who dont believe in inerrancy of Bible? cant truly be Christian. #smug #CSLewis didnt – would I count him out?!
I used 2b quite apathetic about the history of certain “heretics” being burned at the stake. Now I find these “church” rulings OFFENSIVE!
Another stripped away conviction: my past love of theological argument 2get 2the “TRUTH!” & now I find such things divisive &OFTEN grievous.
Piggyback 2last – the degree 2which Christians separate from one another over fine points of disagreement now WOUNDS me. #formerseparatist
I once heard a sermon by @MarkDever distinguishing “unity” ppl (overemphasize LOVE) vs. “purity” ppl (overemphasize DOCTRINE). #formerpurist
Took me over 30 years of my Christian walk 2realize that verse “Mercy triumphs over judgment” is not just a guideline, but TRUTH 2b LIVED.
YES relationship w/God is necessarily founded on his WORD, but we don’t HEAR his voice only by academic excellence. We hear with our SPIRIT.
Christ was FULL of Grace AND Truth. I’v erred on side of Truth but now that I hv recd Grace, I hv to admit I CANT always “know.” #trustJesus
I once mocked so-called 7/11 songs (same 7 words 11x) – now I realize this musically gets SELF out of way &invites Gods PRESENCE in worship!
I hv “sat in the seat of scoffers” .. it’s 1 thing 2 “bark @ the dogs” .. sometimes harsh words fit. But more often, I was exalting myself.
Posted on July 23, 2014, in Bible Study, Challenge, Personal. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Just imagine me reading this and muttering a lot of “amens.”
There’s a current Jars of Clay lyric that talks about the songwriter becoming “a man I wouldn’t have had respect for if I met me when I was young.”
I find that the zealous Calvinism of my twenties is rapidly being replaced and softened by an openness for mercy, love and compassion. I’m thankful for the strong doctrine I learned, which provides me with a nice framework. But it can never be exhaustive. And it too often builds up pride, self-righteousness and a religion where we make doctrine into an idol instead of wresting in a God who won’t always meet our expectations.
Marrying a woman who grew up Methodist humbled me. I’m learning the best thing I can say is “I don’t know” now, and that maybe the “meat” we often talk about so much is not that of in-depth knowledge, but of learning the word. Mostly, I’m just learning to remember that I don’t always know what I don’t know.
Good thoughts.
I have been dating a man for over a year who is a “Word of Faith” charismatic! ❤ I would have LOUDLY refused such a thing in my not-very-distant-past … He has had a great influence on me, though the Lord was already preparing my heart for the "fullness" of the Spirit and to have more grace concerning so-called "terminologies" with which we Christians like to label each other …
For example, I LOVE the teaching of Keith Moore (Branson MO) … he was a disciple of Kenneth Hagin Sr. (gasp!) and falls FIRMLY in the "health, wealth and prosperity" camp that Evangelicals are so quick to decry. But he is BIBLICAL and depends in an EXEMPLARY way on the Spirit of God, as do the majority in his church. I love him as much as I love the likes of a Mark Driscoll and a Matt Chandler and a Wayne Grudem, all for various reasons, and ALL with whom I have some nuance of DISagreement, but all who are godly men teaching and living out the Word of God ….
I could easily add another "conviction" to this list – that of ONLY entrusting myself to teachers with whom I could describe myself as "like minded" – but I think this was more out of FEAR that I would be too easily led astray, and now I recognize the Spirit IN me leading and teaching me, and giving me discernment on matters of how to understand Scripture …. and I am completely ok with the fact that He might speak to me a little differently than another person on "peripheral" matters.
I think he "convicts" us differently for HIS OWN reasons, provided we are genuinely listening, because we also tend to behave differently based on our own shallow "knowledge" and I suspect he's more interested in what we DO (walk by faith not by sight? led by the Spirit as true sons of God?) versus what we KNOW (too often an excuse for a LACK of faith?). But I don't wanna overstate that, either, and err on the other side! 😉
Thanks for the comment, Chris!
~Leah