I, of course, find this topic a bit
funny. I thought the
relevance of Christ in our life and in everything in it is beyond
question. But I’m meeting more and more people raising that question
up, or at least admitting that they in theory believe in Christ’s
relevance but could not find the concrete way to feel it.
Obviously, the relevance of Christ is not a matter of
feelings but of faith, which in turn depends more on our will than
again on our feelings. Feelings of God’s presence in our life come
only as a consequence of our will to believe in him which is also a
result of God’s grace that is given to us abundantly.
If we find that reasoning circular—what we call, begging
the question—we need to be clear about one basic point. And that is,
everything starts with God. He takes the initiative in everything.
He created us. He endowed us with the best faculties and
powers that would qualify us to be his image and likeness, and his
children. He started everything with us and will always be with us.
When we start with ourselves, especially with our senses
and feelings, and remain there, then we would be understanding things
with a grave handicap. Chronologically, we of course start with our
senses and feelings, but when we start to use our reason, and let it
run its course as fully as possible, then we would realize that
everything, in fact, starts with God, not with us.
In fact, we rectify ourselves as often as we realize that
our initial understanding of things based on our senses and emotions
has not been that correct. We have to be wary of our tendency to be
too dependent on our senses and feelings, since these faculties of
ours, no matter how powerful and necessary to us, can only do so much.
They can capture only the sensible reality, not the intelligible, much
less, the spiritual and supernatural realities.
While we start our process of knowing with them, we have
to understand that they only serve as starters, not as completers or
perfecters of our knowing. Our knowledge of things takes place in our
mind and heart, which in turn derive their capacity to know and love
from God and always with God, their creator and lawgiver.
Having said all that, we can say that we have to train
ourselves to think properly, that is to say, to acknowledge the
indispensable role of God in everything in our life. He will always be
relevant.
Being the Son and Word of God who became man, Christ is
the very pattern of the whole of creation, and especially of man who
is God’s image and likeness. This means that everything that exists
has its nature and law written, so to speak, and originating in
Christ.
What we know and discover and invent in this world has
Christ in the center of it all. He is at least the reference point of
our knowledge that can differ from how things ought to be as designed
by God. He is the ultimate arbiter of what is right and wrong, good
and evil in our life here on earth.
By becoming man, Christ offers us the way to return to God
after we have fallen away from him through our sins. He shows us how
to handle our spiritual powers of knowing and loving. But he presents
all this to us as an option. He does not force us to accept it. He
respects our freedom. We are also free to accept it or not.
We can then understand that no one and nothing can
actually be more relevant to us than Christ himself. He is actually
everything to us. While he presents himself to us as an option, we
have to understand that he is not optional, but rather a necessity to
us.
We need to process this truth of our faith slowly and
thoroughly because many are the factors that can undermine our free
acceptance and belief in it. We often do not like to bother ourselves
to go beyond what is physical or material, social or political,
historical or cultural.
We rely too much on our senses and feelings. If we use our
intelligence, we base its operation more on what we see, touch and
feel, rather than on what our faith, whose fullness is given to us by
Christ, tells us.
We have to acknowledge the primacy of faith in our pursuit
of knowledge so we can see Christ’s continuing relevance in our life.
relevance of Christ in our life and in everything in it is beyond
question. But I’m meeting more and more people raising that question
up, or at least admitting that they in theory believe in Christ’s
relevance but could not find the concrete way to feel it.
Obviously, the relevance of Christ is not a matter of
feelings but of faith, which in turn depends more on our will than
again on our feelings. Feelings of God’s presence in our life come
only as a consequence of our will to believe in him which is also a
result of God’s grace that is given to us abundantly.
If we find that reasoning circular—what we call, begging
the question—we need to be clear about one basic point. And that is,
everything starts with God. He takes the initiative in everything.
He created us. He endowed us with the best faculties and
powers that would qualify us to be his image and likeness, and his
children. He started everything with us and will always be with us.
When we start with ourselves, especially with our senses
and feelings, and remain there, then we would be understanding things
with a grave handicap. Chronologically, we of course start with our
senses and feelings, but when we start to use our reason, and let it
run its course as fully as possible, then we would realize that
everything, in fact, starts with God, not with us.
In fact, we rectify ourselves as often as we realize that
our initial understanding of things based on our senses and emotions
has not been that correct. We have to be wary of our tendency to be
too dependent on our senses and feelings, since these faculties of
ours, no matter how powerful and necessary to us, can only do so much.
They can capture only the sensible reality, not the intelligible, much
less, the spiritual and supernatural realities.
While we start our process of knowing with them, we have
to understand that they only serve as starters, not as completers or
perfecters of our knowing. Our knowledge of things takes place in our
mind and heart, which in turn derive their capacity to know and love
from God and always with God, their creator and lawgiver.
Having said all that, we can say that we have to train
ourselves to think properly, that is to say, to acknowledge the
indispensable role of God in everything in our life. He will always be
relevant.
Being the Son and Word of God who became man, Christ is
the very pattern of the whole of creation, and especially of man who
is God’s image and likeness. This means that everything that exists
has its nature and law written, so to speak, and originating in
Christ.
What we know and discover and invent in this world has
Christ in the center of it all. He is at least the reference point of
our knowledge that can differ from how things ought to be as designed
by God. He is the ultimate arbiter of what is right and wrong, good
and evil in our life here on earth.
By becoming man, Christ offers us the way to return to God
after we have fallen away from him through our sins. He shows us how
to handle our spiritual powers of knowing and loving. But he presents
all this to us as an option. He does not force us to accept it. He
respects our freedom. We are also free to accept it or not.
We can then understand that no one and nothing can
actually be more relevant to us than Christ himself. He is actually
everything to us. While he presents himself to us as an option, we
have to understand that he is not optional, but rather a necessity to
us.
We need to process this truth of our faith slowly and
thoroughly because many are the factors that can undermine our free
acceptance and belief in it. We often do not like to bother ourselves
to go beyond what is physical or material, social or political,
historical or cultural.
We rely too much on our senses and feelings. If we use our
intelligence, we base its operation more on what we see, touch and
feel, rather than on what our faith, whose fullness is given to us by
Christ, tells us.
We have to acknowledge the primacy of faith in our pursuit
of knowledge so we can see Christ’s continuing relevance in our life.
No comments:
Post a Comment