Know-So Salvation

And take the helmet of salvation - Ephesians 6:17a

Our salvation is not just something for the heart, it's for the head, too. Jesus chided the woman at the well just little by saying, "You worship what you do not know".¹

Salvation is knowable - we can know that we are saved, we can know how we are saved, we can know how salvation "works", and we are to do so.

- fritz


^{1 - John 4:22a (NASB)}

Algebra in the Bible

"[T]he kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. - Matthew 13:45-46

In algebra class we were given word problems. We had to express them in terms of variables ("x", "y", and "z") then solve the equation. We considered them both enlightening and confusing - enlightening if figured correctly, confusing if our equation was wrong.

Jesus taught parables both illustrating and obfuscating reality, but they can be seen like heavenly word problems that, with the right correlation of variables, reveal their secrets.

Jesus, here, says there is a Merchant man, a valuable pearl, and currency to purchase it - "x", "y", and "z". He also tells us the merchant man, "x", is really the Kingdom of Heaven. What, then, could the currency of Heaven be? Not gold, that's paving material, the valuable God had was his only Son.

"Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse (doom) of the Law [and its condemnation]" - Galatians 3:13a (Amplified)

And the Pearl of great price, that would be you and me.

"... true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." - Jesus (John 4:23b NIV)

Do you see yourself as a valuable pearl? God does.

- fritz

A Bridal Paradigm

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. - Ephesians 5:31-32 (KJV)

Jesus elevated physical existence and circumstances to a new level.

He spoke of "living" water - something like water, but for the soul (John 4:10). With his water you don't get wet but you do get refreshed, in a different way.

Jesus said He was the "Light" of the world. He illuminates reality. It could be said light is simply a physical metaphor for what God does when he come into the human heart.

The Bible uses another physical metaphor, that of being a Bride for Christ.

Our female brethren may have an easier time understanding the metaphor, but not the exclusive rights to it. It has nothing to do with gender or sex like his "living" water has nothing to do with getting wet.

It has everything to do with the relationship and love between the saved and their Saviour. It describes the heartfelt relationship Jesus has towards me (individually and for the Church as a whole). It illustrates the excitement of being sought out and chosen by the real "Mr. Right" - not in us finding him but him finding us(Philippians 3:12b).

If 2nd Timothy 3:16 is to be believed, when it says "All scripture is inspired..." then the mystery of "a man with a maid" (Proverbs 30:19) and the book of the Song of Solomon are physical metaphors of the mystical relationship between the man, Christ Jesus, and the maid, us individually and collectively as the church.

I have heard this but until now it has been dormant; I am awaking to a whole new world!

- Fritz

Set your sights higher

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. - John 4:14-15 (KJV)

The famous "woman at the well" incident reveals a problem we have in common with her! We keep our focus based on the tasks we have to do, not the gifts he offers.

Jesus tells her of a different kind of water to satisfy a different kind of thirst. He says his "Living" water will satisfy her real thirst and is received for the asking! She can't stop thinking in terms of doing and asks so she doesn't have to come to that well any more. A totally different focus.

It is like the Norman Rockwell painting, "Lift Up Thine Eyes". The Church is proclaiming the Gospel and saying, "Look up!", but all the people are walking right by looking down.

We, like the people in that painting, are looking down at our next step instead of looking up to the one who makes all steps meaningful.

Jesus, in all my journey let me never be so focused on the path details and absorbed in other mundane thoughts that I loose sight of the Glory of You and the wonders of the trip!

-Fritz

Asking the Right Questions

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.(John 4:10 KJV)

Had the woman at the well known the gift of God and that she was talking to the one who could give it she would quit arguing and start asking.

C.S.Lewis wrote:

"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinate joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased"

Jesus said God has a gift, something that satisfies now and forever, and he is the one who gives it out.

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.(John 4:14 KJV)

Jesus give me that gift so I don't even want to go to puny wells for refreshment! (John 4:15)

-fal