What does that
mean? How does that work? Sometimes it feels like I am the only one who thinks
of these questions. Christianity is a religion of many languages and many more
vague phrases and words.
Recently I
tried to re-establish communication with a brother from a group where we used
to fellowship. He and his family has also left that group. During our short
exchange of messages back and forth, he asked me if I was interested in, or
practiced sanctification. There is one of those words that seems to have different meanings
in different Christian circles. I told him I wasn’t sure what he meant by the
word sanctification and that I would be very interested to have him share his
understanding. I didn’t hear back from him.
Most Christians
seem quite content with vague understandings of Christian terms that have
little or no use outside of religious application. A good example is the word
grace. Even respected Christian teachers will tell you that grace is when God
gives us something we don’t deserve. What does that mean? How does that work?
I have
contributed to this blog since 2009 and written over 200 articles. Of all those
articles, the one article that has gotten the most attention is an article I
wrote back in 2013. Although it is over 7 years old, it still gets more views
than any other. “Grace: The divine influence upon the heart and its reflection
in the life” has been viewed 419 times which is more than twice as many times
as any other article. That seems to indicate to me that there is an interest in
discovering a useful meaning for that word.
Think about the
words you use. Can you offer a clear definition of what they mean to you? Can
you illustrate how they work? Whether we agree on the exact meaning of the word
is not as important as our being able to express clearly what we mean when we
use a word. So that me might at least understand what is being said. Agreeing
is nice too but not always possible.
Brothers and
sisters, we need to communicate. And we need to understand what we are saying
in order for real communication to happen. If I ask you, “What does that mean?”
“How does that work?” I am not challenging you, I want to understand what you
mean.
Be Faithful.
Rick
