[Warning!!! This is a muddle of many unsorted thoughts that have been compiling for quite a little while now. Be warned, this is meant as more of an outline than a message to be communicated. If you can find a flow of thoughts, you have a true skill. ]
This year I have had both the blessing and the curse of spending large amounts of time studying the relationship between Idealism and Pragmatism for debate.
Idealism says we should pursue high and noble principles.
Pragmatism says we should focus on practicality and results.
The more I study these philosophies, the more I realize they really don't matter. They both have their benefits and harms, however they have something very important in common with each other.
They are both completely and utterly dependant on what you personally value. If you value something bad your perception of "noble principles" and "practical results" will be dangerously off-target. No philosophy can save you if your desires, motivations and reasons are all defective.
While this truth might be amusing in philosophy, it has taken on a whole new level of meaning when I look at my own life. Now, comparatively, I wouldn't call myself a horrible person. However, compared to my goal, I am a horribly depraved person. I see all the sin in my life and something it makes me angry. Other times sad. Frustrated. Depressed. And worse, apathetic.
I see the shortcomings in life and wonder, "why?". The answer, I am realizing, is simply because I am valuing the wrong things. Instead of focusing on my relationship with Christ, I focus on the petty things of life. Instead of wanting to know God's Words, I want to check my e-mail. I let the little self-centered things fill up my life instead of God.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. -Gal 5:1
I don't need to be "enslaved" to serving myself and I shouldn't be! I have been set free so I can follow Christ and stay free. Being free is tougher than I thought it would be, but it is something I need to learn.
(Disclaimer: I very rarely listen to this style of music, however I recently have listened to a few songs by the band Flobots. I can't say I like rap, but for some reason this song jumped out at me. other songs by Flobots aren't always appropriate, thus I wouldn't recommend them.
"You've got the freedom to
Make a decision
Will you abandon
All your addictions
Take your stand and
Live your convictions
What've you got to lose
What've you been taught to chose"
-Flobots, Jetpack
We have the freedom (in Christ) to make a decision. We can abandon everything we have in life and stand for something, or we can choose to go back into slavery.
"What've we got to lose?"
"Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ "
-Philippians 3:7-8
The answer is simple. We have nothing to lose. If we understand even a fraction of how valuable Christ is, everything, EVERYTHING else becomes "rubbish". It is such a simply truth, yet I seem to have so much difficulty understanding it.
"Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all"
It is so simple! Yet... I also manage to over complicate it. All my shortcomings. All my pain. All my sin is from the fact that I can not fully embrace a simple truth. All our lives fall short because we have the wrong desires, motivations and reasons behind our thoughts and actions.
"it's so hard to be objective,when your reason is defective."
-Five Iron Frenzy, Farewell to Arms
That would be the end of the story,
"But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair"
-Relient K
We read in 2 Tim 2:13:
This year I have had both the blessing and the curse of spending large amounts of time studying the relationship between Idealism and Pragmatism for debate.
Idealism says we should pursue high and noble principles.
Pragmatism says we should focus on practicality and results.
The more I study these philosophies, the more I realize they really don't matter. They both have their benefits and harms, however they have something very important in common with each other.
They are both completely and utterly dependant on what you personally value. If you value something bad your perception of "noble principles" and "practical results" will be dangerously off-target. No philosophy can save you if your desires, motivations and reasons are all defective.
While this truth might be amusing in philosophy, it has taken on a whole new level of meaning when I look at my own life. Now, comparatively, I wouldn't call myself a horrible person. However, compared to my goal, I am a horribly depraved person. I see all the sin in my life and something it makes me angry. Other times sad. Frustrated. Depressed. And worse, apathetic.
I see the shortcomings in life and wonder, "why?". The answer, I am realizing, is simply because I am valuing the wrong things. Instead of focusing on my relationship with Christ, I focus on the petty things of life. Instead of wanting to know God's Words, I want to check my e-mail. I let the little self-centered things fill up my life instead of God.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. -Gal 5:1
I don't need to be "enslaved" to serving myself and I shouldn't be! I have been set free so I can follow Christ and stay free. Being free is tougher than I thought it would be, but it is something I need to learn.
(Disclaimer: I very rarely listen to this style of music, however I recently have listened to a few songs by the band Flobots. I can't say I like rap, but for some reason this song jumped out at me. other songs by Flobots aren't always appropriate, thus I wouldn't recommend them.
"You've got the freedom to
Make a decision
Will you abandon
All your addictions
Take your stand and
Live your convictions
What've you got to lose
What've you been taught to chose"
-Flobots, Jetpack
We have the freedom (in Christ) to make a decision. We can abandon everything we have in life and stand for something, or we can choose to go back into slavery.
"What've we got to lose?"
"Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ "
-Philippians 3:7-8
The answer is simple. We have nothing to lose. If we understand even a fraction of how valuable Christ is, everything, EVERYTHING else becomes "rubbish". It is such a simply truth, yet I seem to have so much difficulty understanding it.
"Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all"
It is so simple! Yet... I also manage to over complicate it. All my shortcomings. All my pain. All my sin is from the fact that I can not fully embrace a simple truth. All our lives fall short because we have the wrong desires, motivations and reasons behind our thoughts and actions.
"it's so hard to be objective,when your reason is defective."
-Five Iron Frenzy, Farewell to Arms
That would be the end of the story,
"But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair"
-Relient K
We read in 2 Tim 2:13:
"If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself "
I'm so thankful, that the truth is not contingent on me
-Caedmon's Call
... What words can I add to that?
I'm so thankful, that the truth is not contingent on me
-Caedmon's Call
... What words can I add to that?
Post a Comment