Introspectus: Fear and Retribution

"In the beginning God..." The first few words of Genesis are what set the tone for all of Christendom. God was always, and will continue to be forever, the focal point of all adoration, worship, praise, attention, honor and service. In His name humans have graciously blessed the world, and also wrought huge tragedies upon it.

We cannot confuse God's will with man's misinterpretation of it.

We are taught in the hermeneutic method to avoid bringing personal and cultural biases to a text when exegeting. This is as possible as separating my hand from my wrist or making a differentiation of where my belly button starts or stops. However, they tell us it is critical in understanding God's Word (and consequently the Will of God as revealed through His Word) to set aside the conflicting paradigms of the day and recognize the intricate cultural paradigms taking place when the Scripture was not words on a page, but real life events.

Of course this knowledge is vital to understanding the Bible. Even for knowing God. But the more I think about it, the separation of yourself from understanding Scripture as if you read in a detatched, scholarly way, helps miss the point of internalization entirely.

When I was in high school, WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY back when, I was gifted with very keen written communicative skills. So much so, that when I had tried to sign up for Honors English (after having just experienced the class for the first time and content with the level of acedemia it produced) my parents and the faculty decided I would "flower" much better in the AP English course and promptly changed my schedule accordingly. In this class I learned a gread deal more about literature, writing and poetry than I ever care to admit. I learned enough to make me hate poetry (yes... there once was a time I enjoyed the stuff...sad on so many levels).

But what I learned from that experience with explicating (literary exegeting) poetry was that you cannot fully know what the intent of the author was unless you knew the intent of the author! It became more than simply understanding words, their structure, their ambiguous usage and archetypal symbols. It became a quest to understand the individual who penned such a stirring collection of verbiage. Understanding the individual meant looking into your own soul to relate. That is why poetry touches some people so profoundly and leaves others with a blank look on their face with the only thought happening in mind as "what the heck does this mean?... it doesn't even rhyme!!!" Only the minds capable of accute introspection and the ability to seek and connect with the author's persona truly appreciate and feed off of good poetry.

What this means for the Christian is this: In order to fully understand God's will Paul instructs us to be transformed by the continual renewing of our minds so that we may test and approve what God's will is. This renewal, I'm certain is this introspective concept. Throughout the Old Testament, God is revealing himself to His people. His character, His Power, His Mercy, His Justice, His Favor, His Grace, His Expectations, His Holiness, Everything. His desire is to be known even as he knows each and every one of us. While it is impossible, completely impossible, to put ourselves in God's perspective or even his shoes, it is not impossible to somehow catch a glimpse and relate to who God is. We are, after all, created in His image and bear resemblance to Him even in emotions. In order to understand God's feelings and character as it's revealed in Scripture, there has to be a huge rerouting of the individual's character preferences.

This is where the comparing and contrasting between our character and the character of God becomes crucial. We begin by seeing how God acts. What he does. Then we can begin to ask, Why? What is God's motivation? When we realize that, we can begin to see his character. But! Without taking the time to emulate parts of who God is within our own hearts, we will never truly understand or know God. The simple truth that prevents people from doing this is because of the horrible unbalance there is in the contrast between God's character and our own. It's a night and day difference no matter how saintly you are. The fear of having your own faults and flaws brought to the brightest examining light possible is more than enough to keep many upon many from going beyond a scholarly or philosophical understanding of the Character of God.

God's character is not meant to be an intellectual paradigm or a theological exercize constructed for our scholarly benefit. God said "be holy, even as I am holy." His character is meant to reflect and resound in our souls. His character is meant as the standard to which we should aspire, emulate, and conform to.

** It should be noted that I am talking about the moral character of God at this point if it were not already painfully apparent.

The character of God is not a complete mystery, nor is it an unattainable fancy meant to set us on a wild goose chase. It is a real and standing goal God has pressed us towards all through scripture. The only thing that stand in our way is ourselves.

If we would plainly look at God and ourselves on the same page, how much advancement could be made in the process of holiness? What fears would be overcome byt he simple conquering of the fear of what you might find in the recesses of your own soul? How much more could you know and realize God if you could just know and realize yourself?

In light of the Easter season. I would ask of you to take time for contemplation and introspection to reflect on who you are and who God is. The whole point of Jesus coming was to show us the way back to the Father. To save us from ourselves. We must know what we're being saved from, and that distinction only comes from looking at God's character and our own side by side. Conquer the fear! Begin the journey of becoming more like Christ!
God bless.