Month: August 2009

Read Up

Iris Godfrey

This video clip (I found on the Baker Book Church Connection – link in sidebar) is one that I amen. It is Mortimer Adler, who is an educator and philosopher. He is talking about learning to “Read Up.” There are times I will buy a Physics magazine. The point is to learn. I have never studied physics. But I learn much by exposing myself to these thoughts. Or I will buy a Theology book way beyond my level of education. The point would be to pull my mind up.

As all educators know, it is very important to be reading above one’s level of education in order to become more knowledgeable. Our learning as believers never ends, and we need to have this attitude about learning — always read up.

Don’t just read the things in the word you believe you understand, but read those that challenge your understanding, or you just don’t understand at all. Let them seep into your being and over time, much more understanding will begin to be there. We need to be alert to this idea in order to become more and more Biblically literate.

Enjoy!

Grace Teaches Us . . .

Iris Godfrey

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Titus 2:11-14 TNIV

Looking again at “grace” – it is a subject of unfathomable depth and much is misunderstood about its reality. This particular passage lets us know that when we are experiencing true grace, we are being taught about the nature of the one who gives it to us. We are taught godliness – the ability to be like the one who is gifting us with Himself.

Some have felt and believed that grace is the permissive nature of our Father, and therefore, anything goes. Well, this has edges of truth, but if taken too far we end up in something that is not grace at all. Grace as the air we breath in the Spirit of God, teaches us to order our lives in His nature. It is not a legal thing. It is a “presence” thing. As we choose to live our lives with a constant awareness of His being “always with us,” we begin to realize an empowerment in this “acceptance breath” to soar in Him and learn how our lives reflect Him. We become as He is (1 John 4:17b). That is not a “power” statement, but rather a nature statement.

As we relax in His nature, we are empowered to live in that godliness that comes from His very being. It is not a work matter, but an acceptance matter. Our “doing” becomes a product of our “being” instead of our doing trying to make us the “being.”