Christians don't Suffer just for Sufferings Sake

All of humankind suffers. We cry a river of tears every day, but our spirits soar to the heavens also. Life is difficult. It is really difficult because we suffer. Oh how we suffer; illness, separation, loss, rejection, failure, dejection, disappointment, sorrow, mourning, pain, injury, ailments, disabilities, disease of body and mind, difficulties, broken hearted, broken vows and promises, poverty of mind and body, unloved, ignored, marginalised and death. To seek to avoid suffering is infantile; to ignore suffering or live as if it doesn’t exist is to live in denial or self delusion. Man does not understand suffering, Christians who know God do. Most of man’s suffering is in vain, Christian suffering has a higher purpose.  Christians don’t suffer just for sufferings sake. They suffer for love and to be blessed. To be a follower of Christ is to suffer. To follow Christ is to do the will of God. We are required to give up self centeredness for God centeredness; this equates to suffering. We must decrease for God to increase in us. This is the purpose of suffering. We grow emotionally and spiritually through suffering. Suffering teaches the soul, suffering is wisdom; it forces us to slow our thinking and think deeply. The wisdom of the world is made foolish before God’s wisdom.  If you have not suffered you have not learnt anything in life; nothing worthwhile. It is life’s greatest teacher. Suffering moulds the soul and being to God’s will. We receive our power to do God’s will through receiving the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest avenues for the Holy Spirit to do his work within us is through suffering offered to God. Suffering strengthens our capacity and character to love; to love is to endure suffering for the one that is loved.   God has a reason for every trouble, problem and suffering in our lives. Most people’s instinct is to resist and ask “why me?” or “what did I do to deserve this?”.  Denial and resistance naturally follows this type of thinking. They do not understand the purpose of suffering. Gods uses the challenges of life to reveal the true self and character. It is part of the growth process. The soul and spirit grows through the moment by moment process of living. The life force within us propels us through the ever presence of existence. This existence constantly presents us with problems. No one on earth escapes, none has a free painless ticket in this life. We are all equal in that we face suffering and problems in life.                    

Why Christ came amoung Mankind

Jesus Christ came among mankind in order to save man. To save us must mean we are in some danger, that we are doomed. If we were not in peril we would not need saving. The danger is sin. The peril is death.  Sin is dangerous because it separates from the life of God.  Death is peril because it separates the body from our souls. Being separated from God means we lose life and we eventually die. Love can only last so long when it is separated from the source of all love. Goodness can only last so long before it depletes when it is separated from the source of all goodness. Health and vitality can only last so long when it is separated from it’s source God. God is the source of all existence and everything in existence. Death comes to every human. Death comes because we have separated from god. Sin is our spiritual disease and death is its symptom. Our being is totally dependent on our relationship with God. God is the life of our being. Death entered the being of man when man when he choose to disobey God. Christ saved us by reconciling man with God. Christ who was God paid the price, the burden, the penalty for man’s sin. Man could not pay the price. Only God by becoming a man could pay the price. Why was there a price to be paid? Because the Law demanded it. Justice demanded the price to be paid. Our punishment was deserved. The debt was impossible to cancel. God could not just forget the debt. That would be the opposite of Truth which god is. It had to be paid in full. Jesus Christ came among mankind to show us the love of God. Through Christ we know the love of God. We know that all of creation was an act of love. Christ came among man to show us our true nature and identity; holiness. This is the true purpose of our lives to be holy to be what the church calls saints. Christ showed man who man is and who God is. Christ came among mankind to change the nature of man. Christ is God in human form. By God stooping, humbling himself, emptying himself to become the man who is Jesus Christ, raised the nature of man to the divine and supernatural level. God becoming man allowed mankind to become sharers in the life of the Son of God. We have become part of God. Christ came in order to save us, show us the love of God, show us our true identity Holiness, and raise our nature to the divine level.  Our part is to have faith in the person of Jesus Christ.

The Two Journeys of Life

We are all on a journey. In a sense we are on two journeys; one inner and the other outer. All journeys end in a destination, an end point. Journey’s have an end purpose to arrive somewhere, to realise a goal, to achieve something important to us. In the next life with God, there is no journey; we will have arrived to a place we call home, Our Father’s House. As we have an outer purpose so we have an inner purpose. In our pursuit of the outer journey, the outer purpose, we tend to forget the inner journey. We become focused on doing and having rather then the inner purpose of being. We are fixed on the physical movement of matter in the time and space dimensions of the outer world to the detriment of the deepening of our spiritual nature and holiness. The outer journey at the end is doomed to failure no matter how successful we are. All wealth, honours, position, possessions, and awards will turn to dust and their temporary fulfilment will pass. The success of the outer journey is always temporary by nature. The accomplishment of the inner journey, the inner purpose will last forever. It is important to realise that our inner journey should lead our outer journey and not visa versa. The inner journey is spiritual growth, strengthening of faith, hope and love, and our relationship with God. The inner journey is all about developing slow thinking which deepens thinking. The inner purpose is the purpose of the soul. The purpose of the soul is to unite with God. The soul’s three components; the mind, the will and the heart all share in the soul’s purpose. The mind’s purpose is ultimately to think about God and our relationship with God. The will’s purpose is to do the will of God. But it is man’s will and his choice to do so. This why he is free. The hearts purpose is to truly know and love God.

The Blessed and Blessedness

Man’s greatest aspiration is to be happy. Man’s greatest aspiration should be to know reality. He should desire to know reality more then happiness because then he would that the world’s definition of happiness and where it is found is just an appearance whereas reality is real and really God and contains the real answers. There is an obstacle in man’s path to true knowledge of reality; it is man himself. Man projects his definitions, his aspirations, and his pride on to his interpretation, his paradigm of reality. Reason and science lead man to knowledge of reality. But revelation and faith which is greater than reason and science leads man to know reality. God said that what man thinks is reality is actually just appearance. Man thinks that the purpose of life on earth is to find happiness, love (romantic & cosy) and success. Christ said that man’s wisdom regarding happiness and success are just an appearance of realities purpose. Christ definition of happiness is not the world’s definition. The world’s paradigm is that you must come first, be a winner, be rich, celebrated, an achiever, be top of the pile or famous to be happy and successful. Christ says that, you that are failures, broken, poor, losers, the forgotten, the suffering, and last are the real successes of this world. In his sermon on the mount (Mathew 5: 3-12), Christ says that these individuals are blessed and contain blessedness. Beatitude is perfected love and charity, ultimate happiness, an objective reality and state in that reality, our greatest good; it is the maximum standard for man’s life on earth. Man seeks, he seeks all his life, he seeks when he seeks, and he seeks when he thinks he is not seeking. He thinks he seeks happiness on earth. We can never be happy on earth because earth is not heaven. Whilst on earth we are living separate from the true and whole unity with God. Man seeks more then happiness, he seeks to be blessed. Blessed is the end but man confuses the means. Man seeks in all the wrong places, and hangs out in all the wrong joints like power, pleasure and riches. People want happy feelings, feeling good, pleasure and gratification. But these are all temporary. Feelings and gratification are fleeting and shallow. Here today or gone tomorrow. If you find happiness at all it is by chance. Blessedness is a permanent state, a deep state. It is not a happy feeling but an objective fact. We should chose this state, and receive it by God’s grace.

To be Christian is to be sacramental

Sacraments are not a fireworks display. They are not magic shows either. They are not a motivational seminar. They are not a pick-me-up or a shot of adrenalin for living. They are not about feel-good but about enabling us to unite with goodness.  Their purpose is not to elicit an emotional response or a rousing round of applause. They don’t make us feel different but their effect is to make us be and act differently. Sacraments are facts rather then feelings. We need sacraments because we are not in absolute union with God. We are separate from God because we are on earth not in heaven. We do not need sacraments in heaven because we are united totally with God. We can be close to God on earth, very close but not total unity. If we could totally unite with God on earth there would be no need for heaven. Willing participation and openness to the sacraments enables a profound spiritual change in our souls which is the sharing of God’s very life. This is the end and purpose of the Christian life. You cannot be Christian and not be a sacramental Christian. Christians should be sacramental because Christ was sacramental. Christ instructed his apostles to baptise all nations (Mt 28:19); Christ sent the holy spirit on to the apostles at Pentecost to strengthen them as the sacrament of confirmation strengthens Christians in living and proclaiming their faith; The Eucharist was instituted by Christ (Lk, 22: 14-20); Christ instituted the sacrament of penance, Christ said “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”; Christ explained the inviolability of marriage and through his revelation of the deeper meaning of marriage with the human race through his incarnation and sacrificial death, thus the sacrament of marriage; Christ fulfilled priesthood with his life, the mediator between God and man and ordained his apostles and successors in the Catholic Church to communicate his salvation through his sacraments. Christ healed the sick. Christ loved the sick and ill. Christ tended to the sick. Christ cried over the ultimate effect of illness which is death. Christ conquered death by rising from death. Christ raised the dead and woke those sleeping in death. His ministry was tending to the physically and spiritually sick. Christ gave new meaning to suffering by his death on the cross. The sacrament of the anointing of the sick reflects our Lords relation with the sick. To be Christian is to be sacramental. We receive very God’s life through the grace of sacraments.      

Body and Soul

Man was created in the “image” of God. We see the image of God in the person of Christ. The image of God is both spirit in nature and body in Christ. The image is both body and soul. The body and soul are whole and one. They are not two parts in one.  Man is both body and soul as a whole. Body and soul is man’s nature. Body and soul express each other.  Man’s body is both holy and sacred. Holy and sacred because God created man, Christ became man, the Holy Spirit resides in the temple that is man, man’s body will be resurrected and live forever perfectly for eternity in the glory of God. The body is made of matter. Man is cosmic. Man is made of star stuff and the material of creation. The soul is heavenly and divine. Man is the only creature in creation composed as matter and spirit. Man connects creation to the spirit. Christ connects man to God. All of creation is in Man, man is in Christ, and Christ is in God. Everything was created for man; man was created to love God. Without God there is no purpose or meaning to man. Without meaning or purpose to man there is no point to creation. Creation is for the purpose of man. Body and soul are united in one whole. One affects the other. How man treats his body will affect his soul and visa versa. There is balance between the body and soul. When man honours his body his soul thrives and is strengthened. When man abuses his body, the soul deteriorates and is weakened. When the soul falls into sin, the body is damaged and corrupted. Sin causes the separation of the soul from God. Death enters the body of man because man becomes separate from the source of life which is God. Christ conquered sin and death because he was God and man. He became body and soul and was also God. He broke the strangle hold, the curse on man. That is why we say he saved us. He saved us from sin and death.

Power to live Faith

Every human being struggles to live out their principles and faith. It takes power to gain and continue aligning our lives with what we believe in. In living faith we are living with opposition, challenges, opposing forces, hostile reaction that sometimes force us away from the narrow path. It is a fact that faith is challenging. The source of power to live faith comes from the Holy Spirit. Will power alone does not change character, habits or lives. The path to hell is paved with good intentions. Will power can be great initially but it soon runs out of steam. The will has a role to play but sustaining power for real deep change only comes from the Holy Spirit. We are creatures of habit, but we are not our habits. We can change habits. We are not victims of birth, genes, our upbringing, society, our character failings or weaknesses, our history, our circumstances or conditioning. God’s children are victors not victims.  We are victors because we have clear understanding of who we are and clear vision of where we are going and clear knowledge and power of how we are going to get there. We know our identity is in God and our security is in His power. Our vision is the Divine Vision. We have the greatest destiny in God’s destiny. We cannot be diverted easily, sidelined or get discouraged when we are focused on the divine destiny. Positive thinking, will power, trying harder will never really change us, not deep down. Permanent change only comes from deep within us, in our hearts. Change our hearts and we change everything, as day follows night. The Holy Spirit provides the power which is the means, to accomplish our transformation, our new creation which is the ends.  There are good habits and bad habits. The Christian character promotes the good habits we call virtues and weakens the bad habits we call vices.

The Purpose of the Sacrements

Grace comes to us from God through the sacraments. The purpose of the sacraments is to allow Christ act within us. It is Christ who acts in the sacraments in order to communicate grace to the participant. Outwardly a sacrament is a sign, it signifies what it does, but more then that; it actually gives grace. It signifies and it does what it signifies, at the same time. Christ instituted the sacraments to communicate and give God’s life to Christians. Christ sanctified every major transition phase of our natural lives to enable our spiritual lives to develop. Our spiritual life in anchored to our natural lives. Our natural lives develop sequentially, step by step, in a development process. Our spiritual development reflects the natural process. We are physically born into the world as we are spiritually reborn through baptism. Our physical bodies mature to adulthood as we mature spiritually through the power and effect of confirmation. We need food and drink to nourish and build physical bodies as we need sustenance and strength for our souls through the Eucharist. As we need to repair the body with medicine and care; we repair the soul through confession. The sacrament of marriage and Holy Orders prepare the Christian for the two most significant vocations of service to others; marriage, the lifelong service to spouse and family, priesthood; the lifelong service to the spiritual development of believers. The anointing of the sick strengths the serious ill for the final physical journey on earth. In the sacraments we participate in God’s life and work. The Holy Spirit transforms us into himself through the sacraments.

The Power of Grace is Infinite

Everything that is good in life is a gift. These gifts come solely from God. Good comes from God because God is goodness. God’s own life, God himself is his greatest gift. We call this gift; grace. God’s grace is God’s gift of himself to man. Grace is God’s union and intimacy with the faithful. Grace is the power of God himself.  The greater the grace, the closer we are to God, the closer the union. Man does not deserve any gift from God. God is the creator and owes no man any existence or thing but freely gives gifts out of his own goodness. Life is a gift that comes solely from God’s generosity. God continues to give grace but sin separates us from God’s life. To receive God’s greatest gift we must co-operate; we must choose and accept. It is freely given and freely received. God takes the initiative in sending his Grace to man, man must freely open his heart to receive grace. God does not force entry, man must open the door and receive God inwards. Grace heals our souls and lives and brings us closer to our true selves and perfection. God plants the seed of grace in our souls and grows is gradually. Grace comes solely from God into us; the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, not from inside us out to God.   Because grace comes from God, we are required in life to fully focus on God himself, and put our full faith and trust in him, not ourselves. The soul can block or slow down grace coming into us. We receive grace by our degree of faith, hope and love within us. The power of grace is infinite, since it comes from God who is infinite. The fruits of Grace depend on our disposition. We must co-operate with God to receive the power of grace. Grace of God gives us power to live a personal life of holiness in an unholy world and to be witness to Christ. The power of grace includes charismatic gifts. These are supernatural gifts, unique to each individual Christian.

Slow Thinking is Deep Thinking

Slow thinking is deep thinking. Deep thinking is clear, accurate and focused. It knows it’s target, it’s purpose. Deep thinking is clear, it is all about specifics. Clear and to the point. Clear in that it is understood and it is understanding. It is clear in what it is saying. To be clear on big points, we must be clear on the little points. To be clear is to know what the point, the problem, that idea, the data, actually is. God wants us to have clear thinking to understand correctly the Truth. “Know the Truth and the truth will set you free”. The thinking mind can know the Truth through reasoned thinking. But a person can only live and unite with the Truth through the will and the heart. Fast thinking is confused thinking. Fast thinking is self serving, egocentric and sociocentric. The thinking mind seeks the Truth. That is it’s purpose, that is it’s end. Truth only comes from God. Fast thinking serves itself, and justifies it’s own truth. Fast thinking believes itself totally without hesitation or reservation, goes with the group think, is relative, is wishful. Fast thinking is dominated by the social image. Fast thinking must think a certain way in the belief that it is acceptable. Slow thinking is deep thinking because it is dealing with the fundamental concepts, ideas, issues and problems of life. It needs to be slow to dig deep. It needs time to deal with complex issues. Fast thinking is narrow-minded, only operates from it’s point of view. It is self cantered and selfish. Slow thinking is wide-minded, as broad as the universe and creation.  It is other-centred thinking, thinking of others rather then itself. Fast thinking is very likely illogical thinking. It needs to join things up fast. Any sequence will do. Any meaning, sense or conclusion that seems right or feels right will do. Slow thinking is logical, reasoned and sensible.  Slow thinking is discipline for the thinking mind. Fast thinking is wasteful, inefficient and leads to the downfall of man. Our world is filled with the results of fast and weak thinking.

The Great Hunger Within

The cure for modern man’s depression and emptiness is faith. Man hungers, man seeks, faith is food and finding. Man, all his life hungers for something. Our Bodies and our souls need sustenance and nourishment. Food sustains the body. Faith sustains the soul. Everything; matter, the universe, the world, nature and man hungers for something. Only God does not hunger. If everything hungers except God; then everything that exists must be moving towards God. Everything in reality moves; it is a conclusion of reason and science that there is nothing that exists that is not in motion. Planets, star systems, like all matter in the universe are moving. Time is a reality, a dimension of existence and creation; time is matter changing distance through existence. Everything moves because of love. Love because it is the God of love that created the universe and keeps it in motion. The physical laws of the universe are the laws of love. If there were no universal laws there would be chaos in creation. But creation is ordered because there is love. Man has physical hunger but also spiritual hunger. He hungers for God, truth, justice, love, beauty, wisdom, goodness and himself. God placed this hunger in man’s soul for a purpose. The purpose is to ensure man seeks out god. If there was no hunger in man he would not seek. God has promised “Seek and you shall find.” If you seek and keep seeking you are automatically guaranteed to find God, in God’s time and way. Seek wisdom you will find wisdom. Seek love and you will find love. Man seeks in his time and way but man finds in God’s time and way. Much unhappiness in the world is man created. God has also placed unhappiness in man to keep man moving in the right direction; home to true joy. The best things in life are free. The worse things we have to pay for. The best things in life; God, joy, happiness, love, truth wisdom are all free. They are free because they are given by God freely. God will not push these things on to man because God is love and love doesn’t push anything against the will of the recipient. The recipient must be open to receive, must seek, and must want. It is so simple; seek and you will find. Just look for God’s abundance and goodness and you will receive. God’s love is overflowing and bountiful.  

Your Life is Your Message

Your life is your message. The way you live says more about you then any words could ever express. What comes out of your mouth can never match what comes out of your heart, accomplished by your hands and the direction you walk. The way you live is your way of leadership. Every person is a leader. Each of us is an example for someone else on how to conduct life. Because we are all leaders we are also responsible for that leadership. Leadership by example is the primary model of human effectiveness. Every life makes a difference. Our influence reverberates way beyond our own personal zone. Because we influence, we are responsible for that influence. Christians lead by example. God says “don’t tell me, show me” as his son Jesus Christ showed the world the love of God. God didn’t remain sitting in heaven preaching to man on how to conduct his life, instead he came on earth, lived the life man was created to live. He led by example. God could have spent until the end of the world explaining suffering to man, instead he came down from heaven and suffered with us, he changed the meaning of suffering and pain forever. He didn’t say don’t shed tears; he came from heaven to shed tears with us. He led by example. Jesus said forgive others and love your enemies. Jesus forgave from the cross and took on the burden of sins for all mankind. He paid the price of justice and he was the most innocent man to have ever lived. He led by example. You and I are Gods example to the world. The conduct of our lives echoes God’s Word. Even if we did not say another word to any person about god, but led a Godly life, a holy life, an authentic Christian life our influence would be profound and earth shattering.   

The Pain within is a Deep Spiritual Sorrow

Our western civilisation is distinctly different from all previous societies. It is success oriented, achievement and possession seeking, work loaded, performance focused, busy, fast moving, wealth creating, luxury consuming, celebrity celebrating, time saving to be time depraved, Prozac popping, bed hopping, and morally weak. But there is a pain deep within modern man. A pain that gnaws away in the background of our lives. The latest model car or TV does not satisfy it; neither does the latest fashion or fad. Eating ourselves or starving ourselves to oblivion does not solve it. Psychoanalysis, pop psychology or the latest success programme does not fill us. The pain within is a deep spiritual sorrow. We have sold our souls for the exotic holiday, a posh address and a golf club membership. There is a hole in our hearts and we are filling it as fast as we can live. The hole is a gap, nothingness, at the base of our existence. The hole is indifference to life and joylessness in the search for God. The modern man is so busy, he is nearly anti rest. He fills his life with things and possessions until it is topped out. He is drowning in possessions. But the hole still remains. The hole still remains because the hole is infinite. Our inner space is more infinite than outer space. Only the infinite can fill the infinite and that is God. We are passionless about God. Modern man just doesn’t care. Through our indifference we have denied our most basic need; our quest for meaning.  We are the most depressed and anxious society that ever existed. We are the first bored society to exist.  Man is indifferent because he does not care about the primary questions of living; who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? Modern man’s thinking is fast not slow. He avoids slow thinking; because slow thinking is deep thinking. Modern man’s thinking is passionless therefore his life is passionless. His thinking is fast, thin and flimsy. Man has ignored God which would be fine if God could be ignored. He can’t be ignored. He holds existence in his hands. Even if man drops the ball, God won’t. He is always there. Life is a question mark. Modern man thinks it is a full stop. But there is death. Death raises the most important question of all. What is the meaning of my life beyond death?  

The Goal of Faith

The lack of faith is the root cause of disobedience or sin. Faith is both belief and trust but it is also much more. Our belief in the truth of an idea comes from our thinking mind, trust is from our emotional centre; our heart. Our deep centre, our heart is the wellspring of our faith. Faith is the positive commitment of our “I”. More important to belief in the idea and knowledge of God, is to trust and know God, the person. Faith is trustfulness and fidelity and we can only have these with a person. You cannot trust an idea or be unfaithful to an idea or commit infidelity with an idea. We can have all the knowledge and truths in the world about God, but if we do not have a relationship based on trust (no knowing of God in our hearts) with God, we have nothing. If we have trust in God (Knowing of God in our heart) and just grain of knowledge and truth of God we still have everything.  So the goal of faith is not truths about God but God himself who is truth.

Our Word is Really our Bond

Our decisions and our promises define us. Our word is really our bond. The strength of our word reflects the confidence we possess in our own integrity; integrity can be defined as our internal strength of character to honour our promises and commitments. If a person does not honour their word or commitments, they really have nothing. Life is about relationships; with God, ourselves and our neighbour. Relationships are based on commitment. All of life operates on the trust of keeping our promises and commitments. Honouring what we say we will do. Family bonds, business relations, marriage, friendship, partnerships, co-operations, teams, organisations are all based on the trust of commitments between people.   We are all restrained by the pull of the past, by our fear of the future, by our old habits, by our moods, emotions and circumstances. We can break the past by making a decision and acting on a commitment. When Christ said to the apostles “Come follow me”, they made an instant decision and followed the Lord from that moment. We become what we are committed to in life. It is this moment of decision that, we either choose to live according to our own purpose or God’s will. Many people make no commitments in life and drift from crisis to crises, fad to fashion, from addiction to pity. Their lives float aimlessly. Others only make half hearted commitments. These commitments are doomed because the first sign of trouble and they crumble. These commitments are stop and go, one day all fired up the next day crawling on the floor. It leads to stress, frustration, weakness, fatigue and mediocrity.  To grow in faith is the commitment to grow in faith. Growing in strong faith is based on clear identity and purpose, on who you are and what is the meaning of your life. Deep faith builds strong disciplined and focused character that will not be uprooted by moods and circumstances. Deep faith simplifies life; it separates what’s important from the unimportant. It solves one of lives great questions. It decides what you do and what you don’t do. With deep faith we know what we stand for and what we don’t stand for. Our faith gives us clear identify and purpose, a strong and firm ground upon which to decide actions, priorities, time and resources. Many people are totally committed individuals but still end up unfulfilled because they become committed to things or the world like money, work or the pursuit of success. The commitment to the pursuit of things of the world always ends in failure and disappointment because we die. We take nothing to eternity except our immortal souls. Commitment boils down to two choices; commitment to this world or commitment to eternity.

Faith is Tested Daily

Keep the faith. Once we have faith we must make the decision to keep the faith. It is a decision consciously confirmed from out of our thinking mind and our free will. Nobody can take faith from us. We cannot say our faith has extinguished or evaporated against our will. We can only make the decision either to believe or not to believe. It is not a feeling or a mood that determines whether we have faith or not. It is a reasoned choice. It is as simple as a “yes” to Christ or a “no” to Christ. Once we have faith, it can either grow in strength or wither in weakness. Our faith is tested daily. In fact it is test every moment of our lives. Christian living is faith interacting with the coalface of reality. This interacting creates a tension, a conflict, a test; we often experience trouble, suffering and pain. But through a deep and living faith we experience real joy a foretaste of heaven. We can experience a little bit of heaven n earth, it is fleeting, a pale shadow but all the saints have reached this state. Faith grows by living the faith. Living the faith means believing more and trusting more. No problem or suffering is insurmountable by having more belief and more trust. Our faith must grow, it does not come automatically; otherwise we will remain in perpetual spiritual infancy; helpless, dependent, undeveloped, self seeking for survival, fearful, instinctive, lack of self awareness. Our only survival mechanism is self-pity and moan, groan and cry out to the world for sustenance and comfort. Most of us grow up physically but emotionally and spiritually we are like stunted acorns.  God says you are more then a spiritual infant, he wants us to grow up and mature spiritually. Faith is an intentional decision; so is spiritual growth. We choose spiritual growth. We must decide to grow, we must plan to grow, we must push to grow, we must fight to grow, and we must persist at growing.

God's Plan for Man is Perfectly Clear

God’s plan was and is to make you the most important thing in all of creation. Man is its end. Christ is man’s end. Love and Truth is Christ’s end. Man is the goal of creation. Christ is the apex of creation. In fact man is standing on the peak of a mountain so high, part of man is already part of heaven while he is still on earth; this part of man is his soul. In all of creation a soul only exists in man. The universe has been intelligently designed; matter and energy; from planets, suns and galaxies, black holes and worm holes, super novas and light years, gravity and motion, time and space all work like a magnificent clock created by a master craftsman. The purpose of this magnificence is life, for it is nothing without life and man. Without life it is a vacant room. A room has no other purpose other then to be lived in, without life it is an exuberantly priced meaningless. God’s plan is love. It is written in love and truth. It is implemented by his divine providence. Out of this love he created man. Man is not a by product of creation, an accident of evolution, a freak event, a smart move, an experiment, a dalliance, a doodle, but an expression of love. What is God’s plan for man’s life? We can break the plan into many parts; love, obedience, adoration, service, mission, vocation, self-sacrifice, friendship with God, salvation, repentance, born again, preparation for heaven and eternity, character and spiritual development. But the plan is most clearly seen in the person of Jesus Christ.

God has a Destiny for You

God’s plan includes you. In fact if it did not include you, there would be no existence for you. The plan includes every detail of your life, your very essence. God has a plan for you and me, therefore he has expectations. He has a purpose and expectation for all our lives that must be fulfilled. He had an expectation for you even before you were conceived. The mind of God created a master plan of your life down to the finest details even before creation existed. You were conceived twice; first in God’s mind then in your mother’s womb. You were always destined to exist. There was going to be no other option; any other fate. He planned you inside and out, every atom and molecule, every aesthetic and talent, every quirk and endowment, your personality and character. Every moment of every day has been scheduled; every action and thought has been recorded on to the plan. But how can man have free will in such a plan?  The plan is so infinitely ordered and infinitely comprehensive that it takes into account all of man’s good and bad decisions, all errors, faults and sins. God’s infinite wisdom knows all things and sees all things. His plan has taken account of everything. There is no predestination because within his plan he never took away man’s freedom to choice. There is destiny, an end point a purpose in the lives of every single person that has and will exist. There is no predestination; God did not conceive, create any person to fail, error or sin. He has destined us for His happiness but free choice still remains with us.   

God takes Care of Us

God had no need for a master plan, a purpose or to create. No plan, no purpose, no creation can add or increase God. The purpose of the plan which results in creation is to express his glory. Creation has not finished it continues on to this instant and beyond to the end of time. It does not add to his glory but communicates his glory. The master plan reflects god’s love and goodness. That is the reason for his plan. The plan is not to benefit God but to benefit man. God gains nothing but man gains everything because our whole existence results from god’s purposeful plan. You and I were not created by pure chance but on pure purpose. We are part of the plan and it is our responsibility to partake in it’s implementation. Realising and accepting the reality of God’s plan and his purpose and control of every fine detail will fundamentally change our focus in life. We can be assured that we are taken care of, there is a purpose in everything, there is a reason for everything, and we have a destiny in God’s glory assured as we had a beginning in God’s creation. We are assured that God is in control and not the fallacy that we are in control. We are free to make choices but God is still in control, even when we make bad or evil decisions. God knows every detail of our lives, there is no hiding. We can convince ourselves otherwise but the reality is he knows everything. One of the most astounding aspects of God’s plan is the first cause of existence which is God. God is present in all of existence; if he was not, there would be no existence. Everything in existence, visible and invisible, matter and non matter, every living thing, everything we see, touch, feel has it’s existence in God. God is infinitely loving, caring, good, wise, truth, beauty, power and his plan reflects Himself therefore we can trust everything to God. God is infinite love that wills what is best for us, infinite wisdom to know what is best for us and infinite power to make the best happen for us. But we need trust, childlike trust in the Lords plan and in God himself. Like a child trusts his loving and wise parents, how much more can be trust our heavenly father. This is why Christ asks for childlike abandonment to the divine providence of the almighty Father who takes care of his children’s smallest needs.

There is a Master Plan

There is a master plan. It is God’s plan. All men were created as a result of the master plan for the purpose of it’s end. Creation, the world, life, your life is not an accident. There are no accidents in God’s plan because God does not make mistakes. People make mistakes but all human mistakes are taken account of in God’s plan. God is in control of everything in creation. God is in control of the implementation of the master plan. He holds it together, he knows every last detail. Part of that plan is our lives. God is in control of our lives not us. What do we know about the plan? We know about the plan through revelation. We do not know all or understand the entire plan. The plan is real because reality is real. Reality came into existence because He planned it and put the plan into practice. We are part of the plan because we exist in realty not outside it. There is order to the plan. It is not chaotic, segmented or piecemeal. Everything fits together. It is sequential, it rolls out in the completion of time, it isn’t there one moment; all delivered and completed, things and events happen one after another, things change perfectly, and there are no glitches or broken pieces. The plan works because creation works. God’s plan is divine providence; God guides, directs and makes happen his creation toward the perfection of his master plan.  Providence is “what happens”. Anything that happens in creation happens on purpose. It is God who makes it happen; that is why we call it Divine Providence. The plan is how it will happen and the result of it happening is creation. Who it happens to is Man. God’s plan is priceless, man’s plans are worthless. The master plan is good and beautiful and whole. The plan not only determines our origin but also our destiny. God planned to create us; he also plans to share his joy and happiness with us in the next life. God is the author of the plan. We have no rights over any of it’s aspects or the success of the plan. We can neither add nor subtract except partake in it. God’s master plan will give us everything we could ever dream of in return for one thing; man’s trust. God asks us to trust Him and His plan. God is infinitely wise, good, true and powerful and his plan reflects the nature of God. God trusts man and he asks man to return that trust. God trusts man by giving him the gift of free will and his image. Man can choose. His ultimate choice is either to accept and trust God or reject God. Man can trust God and his plan or reject God and ignore his plan. But man ignoring God’s master plan does not affect it’s implementation. God’s master plan takes account of every eventuality and detail. God’s plan will succeed because God does not fail and his plan is perfection.

Two Basic life Philosophies

In the classic As a Man Thinkth, James Allen writes; “From the state of a man’s heart proceed the conditions of his life; his thoughts blossom into deeds and his deeds bear the fruitage of his character and destiny”. We don’t see things are they are, we see them as we are. We don’t see reality as it is, we see it as we see ourselves. We are wearing mental screens through which we filter information from the world around us. We also filter our thoughts. Our destiny is mapped on our minds and hearts, out of which our attitudes and conduct and our deeds spring.  Your perspectives have power because they interpret reality.  How we see ourselves determines our attitudes and behaviours, it also affects our views of others and the world. Your life perspective, your operating paradigms influence how you use your life, the focus of your efforts, the treatment of your neighbour, the value you place on things, and the value you place on love. The way we see life leads to what we do in life. Your life philosophy is everything because it determines everything. It is a person’s life philosophy that determines the thinking minds view of living. It’s the thinking mind’s definition of how life works, the purpose, goals and priorities of life and what is to be expected from life. A person expresses their life philosophy in every thought, word and deed.  Every person has a life paradigm, a philosophic world view. In fact no two are the same. A person’s life philosophy is a mixture of our history, internal scripting, our education, social views, our family views, our conscience, our needs and desires, our self-awareness and our expectations.  But fundamentally we can breakdown all these influences to two basic life philosophies; the philosophy of the world or the philosophy of God. The real choice is between a natural philosophy and a supernatural philosophy. The philosophy of the world today fits into many definitions and terms; secularism, materialism, individualism, hedonism, minimalism, relativism and subjectivism. This really boils down to the philosophy of “I myself and no one else” and they are based on the idea that there is no God or that God is not relevant to today’s world. If my life philosophy is materialistic, my priority is life will be money and things. This is the “I am what I own” philosophy. If my life philosophy is hedonistic, my priority is pleasure and feeling high. This is the” how do I get pleasure from this person or thing?” If my philosophy is minimalism, then my priority is to take short cuts, do the minimum, this is the “What is the least I can get away with?” view of life. If your life view is Individualism, your priority is your own interests, expectations and doing it your way. This is the “What is in it for me?” view of life. The alternative is the philosophy of God; “Love God and love your neighbour”.

Life is an Inside Job

Life is an inside job. God wants us to grow up spiritually and this spirit is inside us not outside us.  We look at the problems and failings in our lives, broken relationships, and failures and we resolve ourselves to tackle them with outside solutions. This outside-in mentality dominates modern man’s thinking. Our view is; the problem is out there, so the solution is out there too. But we get confused and disheartened when outside solutions do not solve our deep rooted problems. But God says the solution is inside and that solution is Him. The purpose of life is not to change the world but change ourselves. Internal conquest precedes external conquest.  Problems will always exist as long as the world will exist. We won’t always exist in this world. When we change, our deeds reflect this change. We change by faith. External deeds and works reflect our internal change by faith. We can’t change ourselves, not real change; it is only God that changes us. We can change ourselves superficially by will power, lose weight by going on a diet, improve our communication and interpersonal skills with techniques, learn a new skill and improve our income, give up an addictive bad habit. Most of these changes are temporary and short lived because they are anchored to a weak foundation. But deep change, change in our souls comes through God, not will power alone. It is more then change, we become a new creation, a new being.  This change is anchored to a stronger foundation. The foundation to change is based on a stronger character then we have now, it is a new character in God. When people seek change from outside they get results based on the weakness of the world. The weakness in other people and external circumstances are transferred into us. We become victims and blame others and circumstances for not solving our problems. This is a childish approach to our lives. Superficial level thinking will not solve deep foundational problems we face in life. Only deep, slow thinking, based on faith in God, and principles of good and right conduct, can we solve these issues. It is paradoxical that we solve these issues by solving ourselves. We need a virtue centred character, focused on God and an internal spiritual driven approach to living.

All of a Person's Choices are Bounded by his Philosophy.

Every civilisation has a philosophy. Civilisations are made of people and the thinking man is a philosophic man. A philosophy directs the way of man’s thinking and correspondingly his life. All of a person’s choices are bounded by his philosophy.  Man asks big questions because man seeks big answers. The two biggest questions are; what is reality? And who am I in that reality? Answer those two questions and everything else will follow, as day follows night. We are unique in the universe. No other living thing seeks the big answers. We are self aware of our existence in reality. Man ultimately wants to understand reality and his place in it. He understands that he needs to understand reality because that is where his very existence resides. Modern western civilisation is different from all previous. It is different because it is dangerous. It is dangerous because it has radically changed man’s thinking from slow to fast. Man’s thinking has been changed by technology. The spirit of man has been replaced by the spirit of the machine. In the name of progress everything has been reduced to appearance, technique and process. The new philosophy is based on the idea that “Man can conquer all through technology and scientific know-how”. The focus has changed from reforming man to reforming reality. Man has put aside character, wisdom and discipline in favour of technology and technique. Man has always primarily sought knowledge about himself and his role in existence. This was one of the thinking mind’s ultimate goals. But the modern civilisation extols knowledge of technology over all other knowledge. Man for the first time in history is no longer at the apex of his own thinking. The philosophy of technology says that reality can be reduced to the visible, that which can be deduced and proven by the scientific method. The opposite of this philosophy is that there is something beyond the visible that cannot just be deduced by science. This is the philosophy of supernatural. This philosophy says that there is a God. So modern man is faced with two philosophies of reality. There is no God; therefore anything goes, obey thyself, be the God of nature. Second there is a God; there is objective right and wrong, therefore obey God, be part of nature. But man is not happy with the new philosophy because technology is taking the place of controlling himself. Control thyself has been replaced by obey thyself. His passions and appetites, his pride and ambitions have been unleashed. The thinking mind is getting weaker. It is getting weaker because man has no more self control. The philosophic choice is stark

Personal Virtue can Change the World

If we want to improve our personal lives, our families, our relationships, our communities, the organisations we are members, our work places, our countries we must acquire virtue and live virtuous lives. Nothing, absolutely nothing else changes the world except personal virtue. There is no other mechanism in the human dimension that accomplishes this task. All improvements, changes for the better or good are founded on virtue. Like nature abhors a vacuum, a habit abhors a vacuum in the human character. If we are not filled with good habits we will be filled with bad habits. From ancient times man has identified a number of fundamental qualities that express excellence in his character. They are so foundational as to be called inherent principles or laws in the human dimension.  Knowledge of the four foundational virtues Justice, Wisdom, Courage and Discipline can be found in Greek philosophy, scripture and the thinking minds reasoning.  These four good qualities are foundational, for upon them rests the structure of character effectiveness and excellence. All other virtues are built on these four cornerstones. There is an internal battle between our good habits and our bad habits. The weaker our good habits the stronger our weak habits. Weakness in one area builds strength in the other area and visa versa. All growth in the human dimension is sequential and phased. There is a correct order of stages from weakness to strength, from under development to developed, from start to finish, from foundation to roof, from crawling to walking, from sowing to harvest. All of creation follows a phased, ordered and sequential development process. It is God’s way. It is creation’s way. It is the human dimension’s way. We develop our good habits and character in this way. There are no short cuts. Bad habits are easy and soft; easy to develop and soft to apply. Bad habits are as easy to acquire as water running down a hill. Good habits are tough and hard; tough to develop and hard to apply. Good habits are as tough to acquire as pushing a large boulder up a steep hill.

Virtue and Habits Defined

Virtue can be defined by any number of terms; right living, correct conduct, excellence, effectiveness, goodness, pure and true behaviour, moral excellence, a right and good disposition. Classical thinkers have defined virtue to mean the power to accomplish a specific and purposeful end; a quality, a character trait, a strength, an aspect, a force to produce a certain effect. At a fundamental level virtue is a good habit. Our characters are composed of habits, good and bad, strong and week, soft and hard. Virtues are habits that are good, strong and hard. Habits are a function of judgement (knowing what to do), knowledge (knowing how to do it), desire (wanting to do it) and discipline (control of one self to do it). We are creatures of our habits. Habits give us structure or framework for living like the body for life. Living is complex. Habits are the internalised, routines, operating scripts for handling this complexity. Virtue is a good habit but it is also more. We can gain a clearer understanding of virtue by it’s purpose and effect; the fruit of faith is virtuous works. The many effects of the virtuous life include; the most powerful means to influence others and the world (for virtues speak louder to the world then any other human endowment), finding happiness and being blessed, and living effectiveness. Personal effectiveness follows personal virtue, like day follows the rising dawn sun.  The ultimate purpose of the virtuous life is to be like God because Christ was perfectly virtuous. Being virtuous is man’s response to the stimulus of Faith. Virtue is a gift from God but it is also a responsibility, it must be worked on, cultivated and developed. We are not born with fully formed virtuous characters, but must grow in strength of one. Like an athlete we are born with certain level of capacities and endowments, but also like an athlete we must practice to realise the full potential of these gifts. A man born with the talents to run a 4 minute mile will never accomplish the feat if he lives his life on a sofa watching TV. Talents, endowments and gifts are meaningless if not expressed and developed.

The Call to Discipline

The call to Christianity is the call to discipline. A spiritual life is a disciplined life. All success and happiness in life is directly proportional to the level of discipline applied from within. Discipline is the ability or internal disposition to control oneself and focus our thoughts, words, actions and behaviours towards a desired good end. To have discipline is to have power over one’s mind, emotions, feelings and passions. A lack of discipline is reflected in unbridled appetites and passions having control over us. Discipline is a foundation of strength of character. When we admire heroic people and extraordinary accomplishments and deeds, we are really admiring, maybe without realising it, their discipline. We really recognise and value in their character the power and command they have over themselves. They are not subject or controlled by an undisciplined inner self. Victory over the inner self must precede victory in the outer world. Private victory comes before public victory. The two cannot be separated. It is impossible to have untamed passions inside our selves and direct our actions toward a worthy goal outside of ourselves. Our passions will subvert our actions.  Anything worthwhile accomplished in this world is achieved by applying some level of discipline. The greater the inner discipline, the greater our effect on our lives and the world. We could say we either control or be controlled. Being spiritual is about being in control. Discipline is not about living a stifled or restrictive lifestyle. Discipline develops and refines the lesser you, the lower you, the potential you, into the true you. Discipline is the tool to realise the true you, the true self. The true you is the person you were created to be. Today’s culture completely rejects the philosophy of discipline because it preaches the opposite, the philosophy of instant gratification. We are scripted by today’s focus on the social image to do whatever it takes to feel pleasure and fell good now, whatever the consequences. Society convinces us that the consequences are worth it just for the “no strings attached” instant pleasures and gratification. Take short cuts, take without paying, borrow not save, have it today we pay the consequences tomorrow, wealth without work, pleasure without pain, living together before marriage, the “fruit without the commitment” is the mantra. This philosophy defines love as self love, self pleasure and self focused; the philosophy of discipline defines love as self denial, self sacrifice and other focused.  But the effects of this lack of discipline are evident at all stratums of society; addiction, broken relationships, divorce, aggression, crime, disease, debt, stress, health problems and unhappiness. Man has a thinking mind and free will. He can think, reason, question and pursue a purpose and is free to act towards that end. That is his uniqueness, power and ultimately his greatest responsibility. But to control and direct his thinking mind and will he requires an operating system much the same as a computer. That operating system is discipline.

Fast Thinking

This is the age of thinking too fast. When we think too fast we can only skim across the surface of life. There is no time for depth. We are forced to think fast because modern economics, work, technology, media and culture are in a hurry. They are in a hurry to change, to progress, this is essential to their survival. But thinking fast brings major problems. Thinking fast is shallow thinking. In this era of constant and rapid change, shallow thinking has lead us to the pandemic of modern civilisation; anxiety. It seems that we have become disconnected with ourselves, lost touch with the important, in the name of progress. The individual soul is dying as a relevant factor in relation to contemporary life. Shallow thinking is immature thinking, forever emotionally and spiritually stunted. The manifestations of this immature thinking are endemic in today’s society; violence, drug use, suicide, psychological disorders such as anorexia, neurosis and panic. The solution to fast thinking is discipline.