My point in this OP is that meat is when we come to acknowledge our lack of understanding the infinite immortal God and then we can learn to digest the meat as we are fed by the Spirit of Truth, the manna from heaven. This is the "experience" that leads us to stop the divisions caused by the doctrines of men which come from the man's understanding and we come to know "Him who is from the beginning". It is a point of brokenness and loss of faith in our own understanding that he then can teach us.
Brother, isn't this a daily event for you? Doesn't this happen ever few minutes? Do you end each day closer to Jesus? That's my one concern in life, and if it's not yours, I highly recommend it.
The one who seeks, finds.
And I think that if you are seeking Jesus instead of world peace, you've have more of Jesus, and more to contribute to world peace.
That's why I call this the milk. Ending division is bringing in reconciliation, bringing in reconciliation is what salvation is all about. We accept by faith our salvation, that we are reconciled, and now everything is OK, and the pride and envy end. If you are still living in pride and envy, it's because you haven't make that choice to trust that Jesus loves you and cares for you.
We have two sets of thoughts.
One set is, "Oh I wish he wasn't getting all the attention!" That's envy, of course, the sister to pride, "I should be getting the attention."
The other set is, "How do I keep from doing something wrong here?" which is humility, sister to obedience, "How do I do something good?"
We need to watch ourselves, to see which sort is rising up in our minds, in our hearts, what feelings are coming. Are we feeling impatient, frustrated? Alarmed? Some people feel fear when their teaching is questioned. Some become defensive, and some lash out. Some become masters of obfuscation as they build their walls over the courses of years, holding onto doctrines they hope are right but cannot explain or defend.
You know there are all sorts of ways the flesh creeps in, but I suggest that we learn to take a very rigid line on our thoughts and feelings, and learn to accept that all those thoughts and feelings that aren't part of Love, and Joy, and Peace, and Faithfulness, and all the rest of the Spirit's fruit, that these truly are not the Spirit of God, and that includes our trust in our full reconciliation to God.
I myself have come to conclude this is the heart, my opinion here, I've concluded that a failure to understand and trust in our reconciliation to God is a primary reason for Christians not living the life they dream to live as a Christian. I've concluded that a failure to understand and trust in our reconciliation to God leads Christians into legalisting thinking, that we have to continue to "buy" our acceptance by God, by "continuing to grow", or it even gets as messed up as people determining inside themself to appear as spiritual and holy as possible because "that's what I'm supposed to look like".
When we truly living unto God, which we will only do on the foundation of Jesus having reconciled us, and living according to that truth, when we are truly living this, that's when we by love serve one another, as an expression of our faith. We have all we need from God, so we turn ourselves outward giving to others.
Learning that we have all we need from God, this is the milk, and turning ourselves to others, this is the meat. The Word of God in our lives to bring us into "reconciled by faith in Jesus" is the milk, and learning about these things. The Word of God in our lives to bring us into "serving others in love" is the meat, and learning about these things.
Here's the thing. I believe the Bible teaches a "new man", which already exists, which is patterned after God, created righteous, and holy. A new and righteous man who is made holy for holy things to come through. I'm still learning the fulness of that phrase.
And as our minds are renewed to this new way of life, this is the living of the life of Christ, Who is
already alive in His people. Not partly alive in Christ, we are fully alive in Christ, and our lives could be fully transformed to be like His if we would fully trust in Him to make it so in us. No. Not that we trust Him to make it so, more,
We trust that His IS making it so. That Jesus IS right now living His live in me, and we can trust that is true IF IF IF we will trust that we are reconciled to Him. Really, fully reconciled.
Much love!
