And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 1 Corinthians 15:49

Saturday, September 10, 2022

Now That You Know

 You don't know what you don't know. Seems obvious, But since you don't know what you don't know, then how is it that you can be held responsible for not knowing, unless it is reasonable to expect you should know. Such as the saying "Ignorance of the law is no excuse." But even if ignorance is no excuse, you still don't know what you don't know. 

Case in point: Yesterday I was trying to build a cement pad behind the shed. I had done all of the prep work, building a form, laying down a base of stone etc. I bought 10 bags of pre-mix concrete, I watched a dozen videos on how to make a concrete pad. So I was prepared. I was really anticipating doing a professional type job. But I didn't know what I didn't know, and while I knew it was going to be very labor intensive, I was not prepared for how labor intensive it would be. Also I did not make the mix wet enough, for fear of making it too wet, which was the major mistake. I did not find out that was the problem until I texted a friend this picture, who then called to tell me the mix was too dry! By then it was too late to fix. And so, it will serve it's purpose, but I am really disappointed with all the work I put into it, just that little extra information would have made all the difference in the results. 

So why am I telling you this? Because it got me thinking of how Christians especially think that when someone hears about how Jesus died on the cross to save them, and they need to love Him and trust him with their whole life like they did. They think that person is now responsible for accepting what they are told without question.  But in both cases, you don't know what you don't know. The person witnessing, and the one being witnessed to, are often both missing key information. Is the one witnessing giving the right information, and does the one being witnessed to have to trust they are being told the truth; and to believe in a God they know nothing about? Obvious room for doubt. Yet we are also informed that ignorance of the Truth is no excuse, and you will be held accountable for going to hell! But is that true?

I used to deliver gasoline to stations, and some customers needed to pay cash before we delivered, because if they did not have the money, it goes one way through the hose, and can't be taken back. I had customers that told me to trust them, and another driver remarked: "Trust you? I don't even know you!" And so when Christians ask us to trust God, many peoples response is the same, Trust Him, I don't even know Him. 

When I first became a Christian and began to think about it, I often wondered how it is that God could hide himself from people, and yet hold them responsible to believe and trust in Him, AND love Him, when they don't even know Him? I thought how unfair it was that Jesus would appear to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, and convince him beyond doubt that He was real, and yet hold everyone else to the same standard of belief without the same proof. Several times in Scripture, an angel would appear, and people would fall on their faces and believe, and yet, have you had an angel appear to you? Neither have I. 

If you are to believe that after death comes the judgment, and those who believed and said the "sinner's prayer" go to heaven, and those who did not, go to everlasting torture, (which I did for decades). The only reason I could explain that was that my faith and trust in God was an inside work of the Holy Spirit, which went beyond just brain power, and right into the heart of knowing without proof. but I also believed what I was being told, about God by those who I trusted without having the revelation of the restoration of all things.  

And that is the key information to understand and trust in God. That it doesn't come about by getting enough head knowledge, but only through the revelation of the Holy Spirit in everyone's lives. No exceptions. "You are saved by Grace, through faith and THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES, it is a GIFT of God. NOT of WORKS, lest any man should boast." The gift of God IS the faith to believe, which is given by Grace. So that you cannot even boast about your faith to believe. How do you think THAT would change the way you witness to others?

 The great part is that even if you don't accept what I am saying is the truth, and you think people are responsible for their own believing and trusting God, the truth does not depend on your believing me for it to be true. Truth is truth even if you believe it or not. The truth was I needed more water in the concrete mix, whether I believed I was right or not. Just truth alone does not set you free, but it is knowing the truth that sets you free. 

So now, since salvation depends on the work of the Holy Spirit, and not on your own knowledge: That it depends on the gift of faith from God to believe: That it will bypass your own understanding: Then even if you don't know what you don't know, your salvation is guaranteed, because it still depends on God, and not on what you know or what you don't know. So then, what about the Scriptures that tell us to believe? Simple. You will believe the same way everyone believes, by the gift of faith through the grace of God. What do you think about that truth Now That You Know?

 

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