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Welcome to Varied Expressions of Worship

Welcome to Varied Expressions of Worship

This blog will be written from an orthodox Christian point of view. There may be some topic that is out of bounds, but at present I don't know what it will be. Politics is a part of life. Theology and philosophy are disciplines that we all participate in even if we don't think so. The Bible has a lot to say about economics. How about self defense? Is war ethical? Think of all the things that someone tells you we should not touch and let's give it a try. Everything that is a part of life should be an expression of worship.

Keep it courteous and be kind to those less blessed than you, but by all means don't worry about agreeing. We learn more when we get backed into a corner.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Opus 2014-188: Agape/Chesed: Spiritual Now and Later

As I was reading through Proverbs 19 I came across this verse.
(Proverbs 19:22 KJV)  The desire of a man is his kindness: and a poor man is better than a liar.
I am writing my own Bible commentary as I read and reread scripture.  It will never be published except in places like this. 

Medley of Worship is sporadic.  I have another blog, Perpetual Proverbs, which is a daily discipline for me and part of my worship.  I write it about a month ahead which gives me time to reread, proofread and tweak it before it goes forth to history.  A line from yesterday’s post stood out to me.
“When we walk with Jesus, “kindness” (2617a) [chesed] begins to grow and be a part of our personality.  When we are not exhibiting it, we become dissatisfied with our performance and strive to improve.”
This made me think of how people grow in their spiritual walk with Jesus.  When we are saved we are not automatically remade in such a way as to make it impossible to stumble or make flat-out mistakes.  We are a work in process, but works with our heart made right.

When we are saved the Holy Spirit does a metamorphosis on our being.  It starts with a heart brought in tune with the love of God.  That is the “kindness” in this verse.  It is the Hebrew word chesed for the Greek agape, or love.  Our heart is changed.  Our habits die hard. 

So what happens is, the born again neophyte is going along as usual and becomes uncomfortable with behavior or choices that always seemed right before.  This is because he is different and the Holy Spirit is working with him.  This dissatisfaction spurs him to more change. 

I recently, on vacation, gained back some of the weight I had lost.  As big as I am you really can’t see the difference but little things began to tell me what was going on.  My watch was hard to get over my hand and was tight when I closed the clasp.  A coat the I wear infrequently did not button right.  Little things, but indications.  I am dissatisfied with what I am experiencing so I am changing.

Spiritual growth is like that.  In a way I have been remade in the image of Jesus.  In another way it is an ongoing process.  That is the source of the bottons we used to see:  PBPWM,GINFWMY.
Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet.

Happy spiritual growing to you.

homo unius libri

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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.