#"BOTH - AND, not, EITHER - OR..."

I don't know about YOU, but I often "debate with The Lord" about things that appear to be oxymoronic-incongruences in "HIS Character", and  "NO", I have NOT "lost my mind" or "gotten into pride" (Lol!); just because I'm questioning the "deep things of God"...It's simply called, INTIMACY for the "true" child of God!

SO MANY of us silence our heart-arguments on a consistent basis, which is admirable and necessary, although it doesn't make for intimacy, but instead becomes an obligation without passion or purpose! We're physically "in the marriage", BUT were NOT "into the marriage" with our whole hearts and minds!

I realize that "my perception of HIM" has been a big part of my "internal struggle" and wrestling match through the years that is truly all about my own compartmentalized thinking, lack of understanding, and the dividedness of the soul, which has grossly limited my ability to really "see HIM" at times; while the child-like or "rebelling teenage" part of me - has just wandered, wavered and wondered, whether God would indeed EVER get around to doing what HE promised?!?

I mean, don't you EVER QUESTION...

#1 - How God can "be" the "God of great abundance", while allowing "you" as well as some of the poorest people in the world "to suffer want", but yet HE is able to provide effortlessly" the various needs, and people still die every day?

#2 - How God can "be" the "God that heals all of our diseases", while HE also seems to ignore the prayers and tears of many people, who are crying-out on behalf of their loved-ones every day - with no clear answers or speedy deliverance?

#3 - How God can "be" the "God of justice and truth", while also allowing the most innocent and vulnerable in the world (especially children), to suffer at the hands of the demonized and depraved allowing the cycle of evil to continue - when HE could easily end this cursed cosmos?

#4 - How God can "be" the "God of love and forgiveness", while allowing those who do not choose to receive or to follow HIM, yet according to scriptures, HE also has destined that they will face "the fires of hell" without accepting HIM; although we've all been given the "free will" to choose NOT to believe?!?

WOW...THIS is what I believe Bishop Carlton Pearson was addressing in his embrace of the Gospel of Inclusion and Universalism, except the questions asked outside of "sound" biblical context and teaching, always leads to heretical doctrines and perverted ends.

FIRST, since we all know in our own hearts that God is absolutely interested in the affairs of men - as Creator and Sustainer, we can also presuppose that HIS involvement is NEVER passively applied or intentionally nonexistent, because HIS Character can be revealed by our simple observance of the most endearing, loving and passionate qualities of mankind; but much greater than our own "earthly minds" can buy into, without HIS SPIRIT actually "changing us" or "drawing us" to HIMSELF!

SECONDLY, if we're sincerely not masking our feelings and/or misrepresenting where our hearts "really are" in the scheme of every day life, we will NOT hesitate to challenge what looks to be "blatant unfairness" or some "permitted injustice", even when it often seems that GOD HIMSELF is the culprit behind the inequity and inequality that we're encountering in our lives!?!

FINALLY, if "perfected love" has really cast out "all fear", we can be confident that God hears our prayers, knows our thoughts afar off, and is pleased by our faith - everywhere HE encounters it; because without it, "the only way that HE seeks to relate to us", would be terribly breached and make it impossible to ever "please HIM"!  "FAITH is ALL that we need", and "YES"- it often seems foolish in the face of real challenges, impossible situations and undeniably "dead circumstances"!

NOW, since I've learned to "daily" surrender "all of my heart to HIM", I don't have such a hard time distinguishing between "my thoughts and HIS thoughts" or knowing "my ways and HIS ways", although the seeming innocence of my probing and my resisting - is really about "my self-serving desires" that may or may not be considered "evil in HIS sight"; but certainly does conflict with HIS desire or "divine purpose" for me all too often!

Don't get it twisted (DGIT), our genuine or self-centered questions, will ALWAYS prove "us" to be "fallible", "inconsistent" and "deceived", NOT God, but "the key" is first recognizing that "there is NO shadow of turning", in HIM! 

God may fail your expectations of HIM if their misplaced, but the reality is, when we relate to HIM "outside of HIS Word", "we" should EXPECT to be disappointed when we humanize and distort HIS Character, by seeing life through our limiting and self-serving "lens"...

The most beneficial and constructive way to wrap your "finite mind" around our "Infinite God, is to do NOTHING but anticipate HIS care, goodness and love, through everything that HE both allows, and that you choose to "willfully do" - with HIS grace and mercy always surrounding you in this life!

To have ONE FRACTION of doubt, fear or unbelief will in no way diminish "HIS ability" to relate or to reveal HIMSELF "to you", but it will definitely hinder "your ability" to relate "to HIM" - and receive "from HIM", because HE is truly "The Inexhaustible Treasure"!

Author and Blogger, Jim Manney, who was passionate about "church father" - Ignatius, writes this about "Both and, not either or":

"Ignatius was always dealing with polarities: the divine and the human, the individual person and the corporate body, mission and community, spirit and law, charism and institution, the universal and the local, and so forth. The temptation or easy option, when faced with such polarities, is to choose one over the other. Such an either-or approach simplifies life, avoids uncertainty, and lessens stress. But it is flawed. It ignores the complexity of life even on a purely human level, and still more, the profound mystery of God's plan for his creation.

Ignatius, by contrast, embraced a both-and approach. He acknowledged that he had to take with equal seriousness the divine and the human dimensions; the rights of the individual person and of the corporate body; the imperative of outgoing mission and the necessity of a nurturing community; the priority of spirit and the need of law to enshrine it; the spontaneity of charism and the continuity achieved through institution; the soaring universal vision and concrete local commitment; God speaking within each human heart and God speaking through the Church. If all this brought tension, then so be it!"

If you're going to "walk with God" all the days of your life, think about this: HE IS, "both - and, NOT either - or", but until we truly believe that there are no "languishing thoughts" and "limiting plans" of God "towards us" (to forsake or deny us in any way) concerning our lives and future, we will live in the chains of fear, indecision and hopelessness.  We will wrongly believe that HE is NOT really our Advocate & Friend, as well as our Judge and Master, and HE isn't just trying to "keep us from the pleasures of sin"; but, HE longs to give us "abundant life"!

BELIEVE GOD, even when "every earthly argument" is starting to "make sense" or jive with the UNBELIEF "in you". REMEMBER THIS: Your mind will explore various avenues for fulfillment, justification and righteousness - "outside of Christ", but REFUSE to believe that YOU "are god", "are in control", or "know what's best for you"; because you DO NOT!

The ONLY WAY to live with "uninhibited abandon" and "unbridled passion" in this life, is to intentionally and wholeheartedly "live for Christ" with NO REGRETS, and the groaning and temptations of the flesh will soon subside, if your focus remains the same...ON HIM!

#HE KNOWS BETTER THAN I...WS-3

Blessings,

Walter L. Smith III, Apostolic Founder/Lead Facilitator
Pure In Heart Int'l Ministries, Inc. -
The Center For Kingdom Advancement
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