A Few Bars from the Jail

In my last installment, we looked at the first step (and a half) of the plan of salvation. It required that we hear the word. In hearing the word the receiver needs to have faithful people proclaiming the scripture and a receptive heart for the truth to settle on and in. It is that “settling in” that we will investigate this week.

We run from class to class, seminar to seminar filling our minds with facts and figures. We read books, magazines and newspapers. We crave information – in fact we crave so much data that we created the “Information Super Highway” to force feed our minds with images from all over the world. Flickering images brought to us in the form of beams of light (or darkness) burning into our minds from television, computers and movie screens. Yes we have more information than we know what to do with. When it comes to volumes of information, we have eclipsed the Ancient Greeks, the Ancient Chinese and the Ancient Egyptians. We are among the most educated societies in the history of the world.

However, what is lacking in all of our education is the transformation from cranial intellect into Heart Dialect. We are very adept at communicating facts and figures – historical data and theoretical propositions, but we fail, in many instances to translate that information into feelings and compassion. What’s worse, we go from Bible School to Retreat – from Church Service to Small Group Fellowship using the same “World” standards for information dissemination.

Let me give an example: In school we are taught about Sir Isaac Newton, we learn about gravity and we can nod assent to its existence as a theory. But stumble, fall and bruise your knee now you have experienced gravity first hand and you can talk about it from your heart.

So it is with the Gospel, we can attend all of these many sessions gaining information – but until it reaches our heart and we have truly experienced the soothing truth of the Christ it is only “Head Knowledge” and of little eternal value.

It is only then that we are able to move beyond cranial agreement based on facts into heart felt belief in the life saving work of the Cross…

Scott