Friday, March 22, 2019
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 2 Timothy 3:16
Although a
“quadrilateral” has four parts, today’s Part 3 finishes this series.
In
thinking about Experience (the assurance of salvation) and Reason (God’s gift to
us mortals of being self-aware and drawing intelligent, ethical, and moral
conclusions), the remaining two are Tradition (of the church, or doctrine) and
Scripture, God’s Word. For me, these
last two are so intertwined I find it impossible to separate them. The reasoning here is that God’s Word (not exclusively
the 66 books we call the Bible), but literally,
God’s Words to humanity throughout the course of time are that from which the
doctrines of the church (traditions, if you will) were born. Everything the church does, from worship, benevolence,
proclaiming God’s love, mercy, peace, and righteousness, to baptizing and
discipling, are extensions of Holy Writ.
We do that to which Scripture calls and empowers believers.
Paul’s admonition
to Timothy is not only defining, concerning Scripture, it is also the chief
example of how doctrine/tradition and Scripture are hand-in-glove tools of God’s
Spirit, the light and power of God’s will here on earth. Scripture tells us what is wrong and right,
and compels us to the right, instead of the wrong. Such is the nature of the Scripture’s impact,
driving church tradition, the doctrines that guide, inform and, by the power of
God’s Spirit, transform human life into new life. This is the essence of church tradition (not
traditional acts, such as observing a festival, or hanging hats in the foyer),
but direction…moving towards the light.
By nature,
I have always had an ambivalent, tenuous relationship with God’s Word. There is this love affair with my Creator within
me which aspires to be obedient to God…a hungering-after His righteousness and
thirsting for His will to be fully in control of Russell. And in the opposing corner lurks that human
nature inherited from Adam…always willing to have a break from my responsibility
to respond to the Director of this symphony called life. When that lurking Adam-nature wins out I
become a wanderer more than a Pilgrim.
Scripture
and the Tradition of God’s people, from the time of Job’s troubles until this
very day, are the evidence I can see of God’s pull on my soul towards Him. It draws me to a scary life…a life walking without
sight, but rather in faith.
It is this
life that requires more light in the soul than on the physical path. That light comes best when Scripture, Reason,
Experience, and Tradition move in concert within me, assuring, encouraging,
directing, and correcting my ways:
·
Experience, or the assurance of salvation is what rekindles the courage inside me
to put one foot in front of the other and keep-on.
·
Reason is God’s gift that helps me mindfully-reject dark enemies in favor of Godly
joys. This is my weapon in the hand
against straying into the temptations that abound.
·
Tradition, the way our faith family has lived in the experience of salvation and
carried the sword of reason, is the well-beaten path, blazed by that great cloud
of witnesses, the God-following community.
·
Scripture is like the shepherd of God’s supreme authority of a love letter to
whosoever will join Him on the great adventure of marching to Zion, journeying-on
to that place of still water which restores my soul.
For You Today
It’s a
dark world out there…and God has provided all the tools you need to keep moving
towards the light and sharing that light with others along your way.
