Jungle

 

Once we hear the gospel of Christ, we have our first choice of life. The first of two choices. We either believe in Christ or we ignore the subject altogether. That is, we do not believe in Christ. This first decision determines our eternal destiny. Believe in Christ and choose a destiny of heaven. Reject Christ, and perhaps pursue some other form of religion or philosophy (though it will make no difference what alternate path you choose), and choose Hell as your permanent eternal residence.

Believing in Christ is a simple thought process, 'Father (God the Father), I believe in Christ.' That is all it takes to be saved. How could anyone even pass up that simple belief. It probably took you all of a half a second to read those words.

But salvation is only one decision in life. You are still living in the jungle. The subject of this study is, 'How do we relieve ourselves of some of those hardships imposed on us by this jungle?'

This leads us to the second choice we have in life, and actually that second choice is a set of daily choices we will have to make every day of our remaining life. Not hard choices, mind you, but choices nonetheless. This second set of daily choices also gives us our opportunity to set ourselves apart from the jungle.

Living in the jungle we live and are exposed to the laws of the jungle. We already know that the law of the jungle is not pretty. It is ruthless, harsh, and will give no mercy to its victim. Living in a sphere set apart from the jungle, that is living inside an environment which God has created for each one of us individually places us under the spiritual laws which God alone enforces. We call this sphere, fellowship, or being in fellowship with God, or being in the presence of God. We won't go into the concept of fellowship in too much detail as it is covered in a separate study, but suffice to say, when a person is in fellowship, then he is set apart from the normal rules of the jungle and falls under the higher laws of spirituality.

These spiritual laws, are a higher set of laws. God is in effect placed in charge of your life. You set aside your own volition, your own desires, and allow God to guide you through life by means of His wisdom. How do you learn, or know His wisdom? You engage in a daily Bible study. You pay attention. You learn. You come to understand what Gods Word means, the principles and such from Gods Word. As you understand them, then you apply them to your life and that reinforces your learning, such that you come to possess Gods Wisdom, or in other words, you come to have functional control over those things which you now know and understand.

For example. As a child you do not understand language. As you grow up you learn letters, then simple words, then sentence structure and paragraph thoughts. Then you learn concepts and eventually you are able to write without thinking about the details of those simple letters. Early in life you had trouble identifying letters. Now later in life you know the letters blindfolded. The same principle of possession of Gods Wisdom applies. As you come to learn more and more, you come to understand more and more, and the application to life becomes easier for you.

But, you say, anyone can learn Gods Word. We can all probably memorize some portions of the Bible. Even Satan has the entire Bible memorized, but it doesn't help him. And this is correct.

There are two criteria for a person to gain the spiritual value of Gods Wisdom. There is academic value for sure, and in this anyone can read the words of the Bible. But to gain the spiritual value, one has to first be saved, and second he has to be in fellowship. These are the two key ingredients of growing up spiritually. Without them a person has no hope of escape from living in the jungle and being exposed to its ruthless laws.

First, salvation. When we are born physically, we are born body and soul. We lack a third component in our being and that is a human spirit. In order to have any kind of a relationship with God we must have a human spirit. All those who lack a human spirit are typically termed as unbelievers. That is with respect to Jesus Christ - those who have not believed in Christ.

Now is the time to post a prayer.

End Of Lesson

Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.