Tuesday, May 27, 2014

The Principal Thing

The Principal Thing is not a Thing at all, but God Himself (and us in relationship to Him—especially by the baptism in the Holy Ghost)

Dr. Stephen Crosby said, “The Jews didn’t engage life in a compartmentalized fashion. For them, Yahweh’s nature couldn’t be parsed into this or that sub-attribute and broken out for independent analysis. For us, it’s the methodology we use for deepening our understanding of something.  It’s the foundation of our science. Acknowledged or not, it’s the way Western Christians have been taught to engage life, the Scriptures, and God Himself. Our worldview affects how we approach the topic of healing. Healing is an outflow of a maintained relationship, not the result of adherence to principles.”

Adhering to THE Principal over the School of Christ is far different (and far better) than adhering to the principles we extrapolate by breaking down the Bible into parts or steps. Yes, the mature knows how to RIGHTLY divide it, but that assumes a mature relationship with its Author, not a relationship with a horde of theological editors.

We are instructed to eat the whole lamb, to digest the full counsel of God (to eat His flesh and blood), and though we might be nourished thereby in “dribs and drabs”—and in some places more and some places less initially—ultimately, our whole body is to manifest Christ.  And yes, we eat the full counsel of God a bite at a time.  “But the word of the Lord was unto them [the drunkards of Ephraim, those doubly blessed] precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:13a KJV).

And these proud ones of His people (the drunkards of Ephraim, those drunk with their own power) were taught this way, not because it is the best and brightest way per se, but “that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken” (Isaiah 28:13b).  The crown of pride must fall from carnal minds.  He does this by the primacy of relationship, not by elementary instruction.  At best it is “with stammering lips and another tongue [that]...he speak[s] to this people” (Isaiah 28:11).  Could there hardly be anything more ridiculous to the carnal mind than speaking in tongues?  It is an affront to the natural man’s logic and “supposed” soundness of thought.  Being baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be baptized into the mind of Christ; speaking in other tongues is to speak (and when interpreted, to also think) in the pure stream of His thoughts.   “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN TO THOSE WHO OBEY HIM” (Acts 5:32 NIV), not to those drunk on themselves!

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