Friday, September 6, 2013

Now and later

I'm re-reading chapters in an incredible book that I 100% recommend to each of you who is reading this right now! The book is called 'Not By Sight' and it is written by Jon Bloom. Super cheap on Amazon. You won't be sorry.

There is a statement in here that hit me profoundly tonight. It reads, "much of the Christian life is spent trusting Jesus now and understanding him later."

I'm living this statement right now, and I can assume many of you are as well.

Isaiah 55:8-10 says "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (ESV)

Another translation says it like this, "my ways are far beyond anything you can imagine."

When you come to the crossroads of faith and understanding, remember how the straight and narrow path is walked... 'Not By Sight' (applause for the sweet plug).

To break it down, according to the bible, there is a being outside of time who has always existed (never not existed, ever) from everlasting to everlasting, and he created beings and confined them to the boundaries of time and space which bind everything here on earth (including our minds, thoughts, feelings, actions, etc.). SO, to understand an infinite being who is FAR beyond our wildest imagination is quite impossible here on earth due to our boundaries: we literally cannot comprehend a being outside of time because time is our vehicle through life. It is like trying to understand a 18-wheel semi-truck when you've spent your whole life in a Prius, surrounded by other Prius', and never seeing a semi but only hearing that it exists. That is a dumbed down metaphor, obviously, but it drives (hehe) the point home I hope.

That leaves us with only one option: since we can't fully understand (fully, being 100% understood like 2+2=4), that leaves us with a percentage of understanding that can only be made up by faith that an answer exists and that it is good and just.

Welcome to the Christian life.

Remember this next time you come to those crossroads. Don't waste your faith on trying to understand fully what can't be fully understood right now.