With each rising tide there is a process of increase known as accretion and, as the tide recedes, there occurs a necessary cleansing and reduction along with some sorting and sifting. Our life experience is built up and refined through a similar ebb and flow and, without this process, wisdom could not evolve.
Acquiring and proving factual matter is essential to the conservation of knowledge. At times facts reveal patterns reminding us of essential truths that may lead us God-ward. But how does this happen? At what stage and under what circumstances do we attribute meanings and assign value to a collection of facts. And by what process do we aggregate and assimilate individual facts?
We often take note of effects without necessarily understanding the causes much like the way atheists can develop an affinity for the things of God while failing to develop an appreciation for the Source and Center of all. Even so, the one and only uncaused cause leaves his signature on everything. It may be barely discernible in our shadowy light, but it is there none the less.
The Deity centric cosmos reveals the fact of the fatherhood of our eternal God and a correlated truth, the brotherhood and sisterhood of human kind. It is the vibrantly alive, rock solid principle of reality upon which Jesus based his gospel concerning the gift of salvation through faith and the inevitable consequence of rebirth, to awaken as part of the Divine family. What is the universe of universes if not nurturing infrastructure? There is precise science, a coherent reason, a predictable path to and a gravity influence emanating from the center of all things. Nothing escapes his grasp.
The self-preservative endowments of primitive animal life, including the instinctive power of quick perception and reflexive action, suggest a form of intuition that is beyond the scope of inheritable learned behaviors, far superior to those capabilities inherent to small brains and the envy of those engaged in leveraging robotics technology. How many years of technological evolution had passed before our display technologies began to approach, in capabilities, that compact dazzling light show taken for granted by the cuttlefish?
The automatic association and referencing of ideas combined with the coordination of acquired knowledge suggest a capacity for understanding. Reason, seasoned judgment and decision making all depend upon understanding; a comprehension of meanings for which there is no ready neurological explanation. The conscientious self-direction that accompanies character development and moral stamina manifests spiritually as courage; a quality for which there is no adequate physiological explanation.
The scientific quest, the curiosity that leads to adventure and discovery yields knowledge that guides us along useful and progressive paths of physical, intellectual and spiritual growth. The collaborative urge, the desire to socialize and the ability to harmonize all point to a Spirit of Counsel prompting the exchange of ideas and opinions as we learn to cooperate for mutual benefit. Such an endowment transcends natural law and provides further evidence of mind ministry.
The religious impulse serves to differentiate the soul deprived creature from those with the capacity to appreciate origins. The worshipful expressions of the appreciative individual create deep channels through which wisdom may flow. This wisdom yields an even greater appreciation. And so we come full circle to the rolling tides. A process that favors the granularity, particularity and the specificity from which meaningful constructs and useful value propositions are built.
Once we have learned to test all things and adhere to that which is true, beautiful and good, we can become reality centered within the greatest possible reality. As for all the things we take at face value, we should remember that the truth never suffers from close examination. So there is no disloyalty implicit to revisiting all prior assumptions. It doesn’t serve God’s purpose to artificially prop up sophistries based upon faulty analysis. Our mandate is to promote Truth; to prayerfully consider the things that are set before us and to allow ourselves to be led into all Truth by the Spirit of Truth.
The question of whether to facilitate or teach is much easier when we consider the context: when we realize that perfection is not prerequisite to making meaningful contributions that help advance individuals and groups. The contextual relationships are only revealed through a balanced understanding of the things, meanings and values that encompass the essential curriculum.
You can be instrumental in creating that rising tide that lifts all boats. You can help with the cleansing, the sorting, the sifting. You can lift others to stand on the shoulders of greatness. And your analysis can be the one that is tested through experience and tempered by wisdom. If Jesus is your teacher, the world becomes nurturing infrastructure. Where God is your thesis advisor, the universe becomes a grand conspiracy to insure your success. When the faith- fellows of the kingdom of heaven befriend you, an exciting career begins to unfold before you. And, whether you decide to embrace this, your first, best destiny, is left entirely up to you.