There is much of this world that we do not understand; Dreams, physics, gravity, senses, instinct, love, intelligence, black holes, sight, and fairness make the long list of things that we can’t get our brains around.
We can gain insight by listening to those who have deeply studied, but we are often left with only their hypothesis.
And then there are the things of God; Creation, heaven, eternity, and the holy trinity. Here we can read the Bible, the playbook if you will, and read and listen to those more learned for direction. Still, it will come down to our commitment, communication with the connections in our lives, and our consciousness to draw nearer deeper understanding.
One thing that we have learned is that we can learn.
Learning, we have found, is a process and demands some semblance of structure. Below is our take on approaching the Big God Questions; Why is it important to understand the phenomenon of the Holy Trinity? How much do we need to grasp salvation and eternity? What parts of the Bible are significant to our lives today?
Defining and getting determined to approach the hard-to-approach has helped us process the process. Below are the four “C’s” that have enabled us lean in a bit closer to His truths and how they apply to us:
Commit
Commitment starts with desire. Usually, desire and motivation are relative to the depth of our “why”;
For us, understanding the answers to the Big Questions is foundational in accepting the other important quandaries, mainly what is God’s will for us. Sometimes desire comes naturally, and other times we must work toward it. We have found that we possess a combination of want and will.
Nothing shows desire more than time invested. Time exhibits our priorities. So, commitment is reflected in how much time is spent and the pursuit of answers.
Monks spend all daylight hours on the hunt. We have the luxury of available time while still meeting outside obligations. We can choose social media, news or entertainment digestion, or aimless wandering, or we can choose to spend our time learning about the relationship we are gifted for today and throughout eternity.
Connect
If we wanted to learn the game of basketball, we would stay connected to everything Michael Jordan had to say and do. Tiger Woods will be the link if an improved golf game is desired. Physics wisdom would include following Newton, Galileo, and Einstein.
Pursuing God’s knowledge holds an abundance of qualified resources. The written word (the Bible) leads the list, and those that have committed their time to deep dive can be found in churches worldwide and online. An enormous list of commentaries has been authored and published.
Though some bad material exists, solid teachings vastly outnumber the weak. We have learned to identify legitimacy the deeper we dig.
In our journey, we have clung to the teachings of a few that we have come to trust and who bring practical application to life.
As important, we believe God has put people in our lives who enhance our seek. As the disciples had each other, we have our brothers that are walking the path of Jesus with us and catch the things we miss.
Mathew’s perspective differed from Mark’s, and John’s differed from Luke’s. Glenn’s perspective is different from Mike’s.
Communicate
Oxford defines communication as “the imparting or exchanging of information…”. Listen, it’s not about listening, and it’s not about talking. Communication is “an exchange” of information.
Answers are the result of questions.
We were born natural questioners but have somehow been re-trained not to indulge in the ask. It amazes us that if we ask the God questions to ourselves and others and then listen, we will hear an exact answer. Amazing.
We take our challenges and pains to Jesus, and then our network and solutions and peace unfold.
Consciousness
This is where it all comes together; The 11th step of 12-step recovery suggests that we “SEEK through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God….”
This whole post has been about the seek.
The way to peace is through prayer and guided (Bible, teachers, authors, and conversations with our connections) meditation.
The more we engage in the seek, the more we experience the peace.
There are things we never come to understand fully. That is to be anticipated. But what we know is that peace is found in the pursuit.
Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” John 13:7
Thoughts and ideas for this blog post were taken and built upon from asweunderstandhim.coffee podcast “Unlearn – part 3” The podcast dropped on 7/23/2023. Click here to hear the podcast.
Photo by Nikhil Mitra on Unsplash
Comentários