The Wild ARE

Yesterday’s post is crucial to beginning the process of finding your Spiritual ARE.

Today I want to tie up a loose end by looking at one of the biggest hindrances to finding your Spiritual ARE: thinking it is the same as your Physical ARE. Whenever you take a personality profile, you are really determining your Physical ARE…that is, how you actually operate.

Besides, these personality profiles are almost “racist”. They claim to describe the entire population of the world with (for example) 16 descriptions. Notice, most people find these profiles helpful for a month or two. Then they move on because they realize two things:

1. They are more unique than what they read
2. The description doesn’t resonate over the Long Term with who God made them to BE

Some people think these superficial descriptions are how God WANTS you to operate. For example, there is a pretty famous book that makes this claim: “Wild At Heart” by John Eldredge.

John Eldredge has identified the Physical ARE for every male and it has three parts:
1. A battle to fight
2. An adventure to live
3. A beauty to rescue

At first glance these look like DO’s. However, the author says the ARE is the DESIRE to DO these things.

Every “guy flick” has these three elements for a reason. These are the three things that appeal to the flesh of every male. God must have certainly made us this way. But does this mean God wants us to operate in this Physical ARE? Does God want us to act out these desires?

If my purpose was to be made for earth, then I would agree with this. However, I’m made for eternity in heaven. Ultimately, I won't have the desire to DO any of these things for eternity.

God made me for a purpose that is NOT the result of my Physical ARE.

If this is something God put into me, yet is something that will not be retained for eternity, it must be something that needs to be removed.

In fact, I could say that in order to prove to God I want to be in heaven for eternity, I need to turn from my fleshly ARE and pursue the ARE God intended for me.

Ultimately, we are supposed to be operating in grace and allowing God to direct our actions (DO), not our flesh (Physical ARE).

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Spiritual ARE

We have a spiritual ARE. God created each of us uniquely for a unique purpose. When we DO things that are an effect of our ARE, we feel joy. The more you operate in your spiritual ARE, the more joy you have. In heaven, you will continue to operate in this spiritual ARE until it is all you DO and your joy will be complete. You can be perfect here and in eternity when you operate in your spiritual ARE. This is because God speaks to you through your spiritual ARE…it is your God antenna.

We have a physical Are. This is the actual cause of what we actually DO. If it is not the same as your spiritual ARE, you will experience a short-term gain in energy and a Long Term loss of energy. The physical Are changes with your circumstances and environment. THIS is the part of others that is changing.

How do you determine if you are operating in your physical Are or your spiritual ARE? The further you are from your spiritual ARE, the less you hear God’s voice. What is your spiritual ARE?

We’ve already discussed the first two questions: what activities give you energy and what activities drain your energy? This is because when God flows through your ARE, it will energize you. It is the unique purpose for which you were created.

Another question I like to ask people to consider is: What was the best day (or time) of your life? What was a day that causes you to gain energy (even today) when you think about it? Sometimes, it is easier to think back to a day before your teenage years when you felt truly alive and hopeful for the future.

The reason you felt energized is that you were using some portion of your ARE. Looking at a day before you became a teenager allows you to remove the fleshly distractions we all feel because of puberty.

The final question I may ask you is: What do you do that is most destructive? Our most destructive actions tend to be the result of a misapplication of our ARE. What makes it MOST destructive is that we keep doing it. The reason we keep doing it is because it is our ARE. We are going to keep looking for opportunities to let it come out in what we DO.

For example, someone whose ARE involves “organization” may apply this trait in order to control people and hinder the uniqueness of others. We need organization. We need this person to operate in their ARE in order to increase the Long Term profitability of everyone else. However, this misapplication of their greatest strength can become their greatest weakness.

We will always be looking for our spiritual ARE. As we get closer to it, the enemy has an interest in keeping us from finding it. Once we find it, experience joy on a regular basis, and hear from God on a daily basis, it is very hard to give it up. In fact, people who operate in their physical ARE will tell you that you’ve become too extreme.

The enemy’s goal is to distract you from finding your spiritual ARE by showing you a counterfeit DO that gives you a short-term burst of energy. That is, something that uses that same ARE but the result isn’t Long Term profitability. The result is a DO that causes you to lose energy in the Long Term.

This loss of energy causes people to focus on the short-term and remain in Survival mode.

Now we see a more complete picture of the Models for God, Jesus, Humans, and Individuals.

God Model: His ARE (Nature) is Right and Just. He is not fleshly, so He doesn't have a "free will"...He cannot act apart from His Nature (ARE).

Jesus Model: His ARE (Nature) is Right and Just. He was in the flesh, so He had a free will (fleshly nature). After His death, He lost His fleshly nature and ONLY operates in His ARE.

Individual Model: His ARE is in two parts that is unique to the individual. Let's call it ARE1 and ARE2. He has a fleshly nature, so he has a "free will". He is also NOT Right, Just, and a whole host of other attributes that includes EVERYTHING except ARE1 and ARE2.

Human Model: Combining ALL of the Individual Models, we can see that what we can say FOR SURE is that EVERY human has a "free will" (fleshly nature) AND EVERY human is NOT RIGHT and NOT JUST.

God speaks into EVERYONE'S ARE through the Holy Spirit...which is GRACE. We are responsible for making the choice to let God's influence through the Holy Spirit be reflected in our life (ARE) or follow our fleshly nature. (We will look more closely at the Holy Spirit in the following books.)

Now we see that God is a set of principles...Jesus is a set of principles...we are a set of principles! The principles are the ultimate CAUSE. The PERSON is the EFFECTS of these principles coming out physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

This the core concept behind the book "Modeling God". The goal is to help the individual intentionally grow closer to God by: 1)hearing God's voice more clearly and more often and 2)understand the Bible better.

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The #1 Principle

The third step in converting your moral code is to determine your #1 principle. In order to gain control of your life, you must determine the #1 principle on your moral code. Your #1 is the principle that has always won out in every conflict with your other principles. One way to determine it is to go over the major decisions in your life and see what principles were conflicting and which ones won out.

Every decision you make involves a conflict of at least two principles on your moral code. You will go with the decision based on the principle that is highest on your actual moral code. (I call this your Physical ARE.) You may regret it because it shouldn't be the highest, but you'll still go with it until you modify your actual moral code. That's NOT to say the #1 was the principle that won out on your major decision...it may not have been one of the choices. The #1 is the one that has never lost.

These principles could be friends, professional power, wealth, sex, animals...I say the last one because I like to use the PETA people as an example, especially the most extreme ones. When they say that animals shouldn't be used for anything including medical testing, then their actual moral code values animal life over human life. In fact, it looks like animals are their #1. Be careful what your #1 is because it will lead you to do things you may regret in the Long Term.

In an earlier post, I mentioned I use music to give me energy to handle the tasks I don’t enjoy. This technique comes from the Survival philosophy. I am getting energy from one source only to consume it in a way doesn’t give me a return in energy.

Ultimately, your top principles should give you energy. This is the Profitability philosophy. When your top priorities give you energy, you end up with an abundance of energy and the process becomes easier. Top priorities that consume energy should be prime candidates for substitution.

When we talk about your top priorities, we are talking about your ARE. The #1 principle that results in the most profitability is the one God designed you to follow. I call this the Spiritual ARE.

The ultimate way to determine your Spiritual ARE is through grace. Ask God and He will direct your attention. In order to help you begin this process and get a general idea on where to direct your attention, I would ask you to try the following:

1. Make a list of things give you energy
1A. Make a list of things that drain your energy
2. Make a list of the life decisions you’ve made
3. Determine the reasons you made the decisions you've made by looking at thelist of things that give you energy

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Joy

It is going to take energy to convert from your original moral code to the sound moral code. So your second step is to identify sources of energy…I call this “joy”. Joy is the result of doing those things in the moral code that creates more energy over the Long Term. This profitability occurs within the individual. This source of energy is unique to the individual. What brings you joy doesn’t necessarily bring me joy. This requires self-awareness.

We need to be able to look at ourselves honestly and objectively. For instance, one of the things that give me joy is music. If I have something I don't want to do, all I have to do is play some music and I suddenly have the energy to complete the task. However, I would be mistaken to believe this is true for everyone else or, worse yet, try to make this true for everyone else.

One final note on this step, if the activity gives us energy in the short-term but ends up taking energy over the Long Term through guilt, regret, etc, then this is not joy. If the activity distracts us so we don’t have time for self-awareness, then we are just avoiding thought. For example, how much snowmobiling is profitable?

The Survival philosophy would cause us to snowmobile just enough to be able to handle the things in this existence that drain us. However, this is not profitable. The Profitability philosophy would cause us to snowmobile enough to get energy so we can invest it areas that will yield more value. Entertainment can be profitable. However we shouldn’t spend so much time snowmobiling that we don’t have the time or the energy to examine our lives. This would not be profitable.

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Moral Code

We have seen what we have is an effect of what we do. We’ve seen what we do is an effect of what we are. If we are supposed to work on what we are; then what are we?

Each of us is a set of principles. However, since we are all unique, we can say that each of us is a unique set of principles. I call this a moral code. We are supposed to work on our moral code.

What is your moral code? It is the prioritization of your principles and shows through in your actions. How can you determine the order of priority? When you are faced with a situation and you have more than one option, the action you choose is a result of the principle that has a higher priority on your moral code.

For example, would you rather help a friend or go drinking? (In movies, usually when a character is introduced they will show the character making a choice. This is done to quickly show you the moral code of the character.)

Everyone has a unique moral code that is a result of their DNA and experiences. I call this the “original” moral code or “actual” moral code because it is the code the individual actually uses. Considering the number of principles and the permutations of their prioritization; the individual’s “original” moral code is more unique than fingerprints. If there are 150 principles (money, friends, animals, comfort, growth...), there is 5.7 x 10 to the 262nd power combinations. (That's a 5 with 262 zeroes after it!) Clearly this is more unique than a fingerprint.

Because the moral code determines what you do, the moral code is who you are. Also, the moral code eventually results in what you have. Therefore, the moral code can be profitable or unprofitable to the individual. In fact, there must exist a unique moral code for each person that leads the individual to maximum profitability.

For now, let’s call the most profitable one the “sound moral code” and the less profitable one the individual naturally has the “original moral code”. The difference between the individual's original moral code and his sound moral code varies for everyone. Some are born with less of a difference than others (e.g., Jesus? Mohammed?). The maturing process is really the process of modifying one’s original moral code into his unique sound moral code through reprioritization.

Your focus in this world is to convert your original (or actual) moral code over to the one that is most profitable for you. This is harder to do than it seems because society tries to convince you that we all have the same sound moral code. (Isn't that the point of some commercials?)

Ultimately this is done to control you. Groups of people can't be controlled until their uniqueness is denied. This occurs with organized religions that try to control people by saying they should all have the same "right" moral code. Society tries to control people by saying they should have the same "practical" moral code. (e.g., sex, wealth, toys...)

Converting your original moral code to your sound moral code is an act of creation.
This is going to require thinking. In fact, one could say, “thinking is man's only moral responsibility” because it is the cause of everything else for the individual.

Your ability to live is dependent on your ability to think (create knowledge). Ultimately, morality is choosing to think in order to understand this existence. Conversely, choosing not to think is death. This is done in many fashions: silence, saying "regardless of the facts (even if it is true) I'm still not going to believe it", focusing on discrediting or belittling, ignoring information, faking reality, lying, etc.

So the first step is to choose to think.

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ARE, DO, HAVE

“Are, Do, Have” is a great measure when talking with people. You can determine a person’s depth/emphasis in how they describe themselves and others. The shallowest people describe themselves by what they HAVE. “I am rich.” “I have a big church.” “I’m a millionaire.” All of these are HAVES. Most people aren’t this shallow.

In the previous post, we saw that most people describe themselves by what they DO. It seems hard for most of us to separate what a person DOES with who they ARE. “I am an engineer.” “I’m a pastor.” “I’m a mother.” While we’ve seen that what a person DOES is important to God, it is not who the person IS.

Again, whether you want to call this "ARE" or something else, we are talking about who God made each of us to be...our individual unique purpose. This is mentioned throughout the Bible. Just like the words "Rapture" and "Trinity" AREN'T used in the Bible, the word ARE isn't used, but it stands for a Biblical concept.

Look at how God described Himself. When Moses asked God whom should he say sent him, God responded with “I AM”. (Exodus 3:14) That is the ultimate ARE! No one can be more ARE than God.

We saw Jesus described himself in a similar fashion when he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”. (John 14:6) We can get closer to this perspective when we describe ourselves in terms of our principles. It shows what we value.

This process also tells a lot about how people see other people. The most instructive example is the definition of homosexuality. I love to ask people, “What is a homosexual?” Most people define homosexuals by what they DO. Very few describe them by what they ARE, yet they claim to be talking about what they ARE.

Recently, there are TV shows that define homosexuals by what they HAVE. That is, what they wear, where they live, and how they decorate their living space. In fact, the recent “metrosexual” fad is a good example of focusing on the HAVE. Basically, “metrosexual” refers to men who share the same HAVE as homosexuals without sharing the DO.

As we’ve already seen, this perspective instantly brings light to several passages of the Bible making its application more relevant. In order to keep this article short, here are just a few more examples.

The story of Job begins with an argument between God and Satan over “Have, Do, Are”! Basically, Satan believes Job IS a good person because he HAS things given to him by God. God says Job HAS because he IS a good person.

In order to prove this, God allows Satan to take away Job’s HAVE. After Job loses his HAVE, he still praises God. This isn’t enough for Satan. Satan essentially complains that Job can still DO. So God allows Satan to take away Job’s DO by covering him with boils. The rest of the book concerns a man who is completely ARE.

The Old Testament focused on the DO and the HAVE. The New Testament focuses on the ARE, but it still lists the DO and HAVE as a result of the ARE. This is the crux of the disagreement between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus focused on the ARE, while the Pharisees focused on the DO and HAVE. The Pharisees believed the DO and HAVE were the causes of the ARE. This is an abuse of causality.

Every cause results in a specific effect. However, a specific effect doesn’t necessarily come from the same cause. For instance, the Bible says if I reprove a scoffer, he will hate me. (Proverbs 9:8) However, I can’t say that everyone who hates me must be a scoffer.

We see the outside of people…the DO and the HAVE. God sees the heart…the ARE. I realize it is much easier to focus on the outside of people. Some present day Christians build their ministry on this same Pharisaical premise. They see the list of effects in the New Testament and try to enforce them on people without accounting for the ARE (cause). However, this mentality will result in errors. They will pull up the wheat with the tares.

I personally believe unhappiness comes from treating causes as effects and effects as causes. We can’t completely control the DO and HAVE. For example, we can’t all be athletes or inherit money. We only have complete control over the ARE.

That’s why God tells us to focus on our inner selves, then the DO and HAVE will naturally become profitable for each of our unique purposes. We need to work on our ARE (being).

After all, we are not human havings or human doings. We are human beings.

Here is a link to a post explaining some exercises to figure out who you ARE.

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Who ARE you?

Who are you?

The typical answers to this question sound something like this: mother, student, techno geek, Christian, etc. Do these responses explain who you ARE? Or are they focused on what you DO and HAVE?

One of the tools I use to better answer this question is causality. The law of causality says for every effect there is a cause.

When this is applied to people, it translates as: what we ARE is a cause and the effect is what we DO. However, there is a second part to this cause and effect process that is equally important: what we DO is a cause and the effect is what we HAVE.

The world tells us the opposite. The world tells us what we HAVE will determine what we DO, and what we DO determines who we ARE. Isn’t this one of the equations behind advertising? “You need to HAVE this product so you can DO this thing and then people (or yourself) will believe you ARE a certain type of person.”

This worldly view is extremely short-term because it is trying to take the short cut of believing that effects prove causes. We see this when people lament their lack of money or possessions because it doesn’t allow them to be the person they were meant to be.

For example, I have seen numerous examples of people saying they need to offer the same workers more money so the workers will become better people. This is “Have, Do, Are”. This statement believes that having will cause people to be better. Their focus is on HAVE.

This is not what God tells us to focus on. God tells us to work on ourselves (ARE). Yet God tells us over and over again, in the Bible, to be profitable. The parable of the talents equates profitability with entry into heaven, while unprofitability is equated with hell. Furthermore, the Bible says (Psalm 35:27) God has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. Isn’t this a focus on HAVE?

I call this the ARE. You can call it whatever you want...but the intent is to find out who God created you to be. Just like the words "Rapture" and "Trinity" aren't in the Bible, people still use those words to explain the Biblical concept. I use the word ARE to describe who God created you to be.

Next to the kingdom of Heaven, Jesus talked about money more often than any other topic. In all of Jesus’ discussions about money, he saw money as an effect, not a cause. Money was the result of specific actions.

Money is an objective measure in this physical world that cannot be faked in the Long Term. That is one reason some people hate money. Profitability is an effect of what we DO, which is an effect of what we ARE.

Jesus’ focus was constantly on the spiritual, that is, on the ARE. However, Jesus related to us on the physical level by talking about money. All of those discussions were meant to tell us there is an objective measure in the spiritual world that can’t be faked, just like money can’t be faked in the Long Term in this physical world.

Jesus said the spiritual treasures wouldn’t be trusted to those who couldn’t handle the less valuable physical treasure: money (Luke 16:11). Not because money in and of itself is important, but because it is an objective effect.

Remember, not all HAVING is physical (e.g., money). HAVING also involves emotional, mental, and spiritual value. In fact, a person with a spiritual view realizes these values are superior and cannot be bought with money.

Some people focus on HAVE in hopes they won’t have to be profitable any longer. They don’t want to continually grow. They want to be comfortable. Basically, these people are hoping they don’t have to DO anymore. DO can mean work, but DO is not confined to an occupation.

What people ARE does come out in what they DO. For example, if a person willingly commits illegal acts, they are ignoring what they ARE and trying to justify it by what they HAVE. This “worldly view” values this present physical existence as pre-eminent. This is not what God wants from us. He wants us to have a spiritual view where the ARE is pre-eminent. This is the process of being “born again”.

We are physical and spiritual beings. However, due to our physical birth, we give our physical beings pre-eminence over our spiritual beings. We see the DO and HAVE (flesh) as causes and the ARE (spirit) as the effect. Every “great mind” from the beginning of recorded history has stated that focusing on the physical will only lead to emptiness.

Jesus wants us to focus on the spiritual. He wants us to focus on the ARE. In order to emphasize the spirit, we have to de-emphasize the physical self. When a person is “born again”, they are making a conscious decision to kill “the flesh” in order to give the spirit pre-eminence. They are admitting the ARE is the cause and the DO and HAVE are effects…and living accordingly. Today, the only reason we are able to do this is because of Jesus' death on the cross.

God’s focus is on the “being”. God looks on the inside of the person. However, God motivates us by telling us the eventual result of “being” is HAVING. So a “born again” person doesn’t ignore the DO and HAVE. They just realize it is an effect of who they ARE. The ARE is the Spiritual self that God made us to be...it is God's purpose for your life.

In the post that explains WHY Jesus is Fully Man and Fully God, we saw that Jesus' ARE is Right and Just. The EFFECT of His ARE was a DO that was ALWAYS Right and ALWAYS Just. The DO did not MAKE Jesus God...His ARE makes Him God (because it is the same ARE as God the Father's from the "Model for God" post). The DO proves to US that He is God. Once Jesus died, He no longer had to deal with the fleshly nature and we can be assured that now He can ONLY operate COMPLETELY in His ARE.

Remember that effects may not result from just one cause. You can’t perfectly predict the “being” of another because of the HAVING. For instance, people can win the lottery. On the other hand, people can be experiencing a tough stretch on the outside because of growth on the inside. That’s because the majority of growth happens within the individual and is not visible to the spectators. Finally, people who HAVE the most materially are not necessarily the most “profitable” according to God.

I have found that people are unique. Each person takes in and gives out information in a specific way. When people operate apart from the way they are made, they have little energy and become depressed. When people believe they will never be able to operate they way they were made, they become suicidal.

Individuals tend to make friends with people who take in information similar to the way the individual was made to give out information and with people who give out information similar to the way the the individual was made to take in information.

The way the person was made is the ARE.

This ability to have profitable interactions with others appears random because the individual doesn't know the cause. However, when people determine who they ARE, they can intentionally choose to modify their behavior in order to be profitable with others. They can determine if the behavior they need to modify is against the way they were made (ARE) or not. Understanding who God made you to be allows you to intentionally become more profitable.

To continue the process of understanding who God made you to be (find your ARE) go to the Next Post

Uniqueness Summary

In Mere Christianity, CS Lewis writes: “Things that are the same are separate; things that are different can be connected”. His examples are two pennies and parts of the body. The word “same” implies there are more than one of something, for instance, pennies. Because there is more than one, they are separate by definition. If they were joined, then they wouldn’t be the same. Parts of the body can be joined together because they are different. So, it is our uniqueness that allows us to connect to others.

People deny uniqueness when they say everyone has to do the same actions. This is not right, nor just. They usually abuse Cause and Effect to do this. They want everyone to have the same cause, but they can’t control the inside of the individual. So they focus on trying to get the same effect out of everyone by making everyone do the same works. This is known as “legalism”. They are denying the importance of the attitude in the individual’s heart, or more to the point, the reason (cause) for the effect. They are denying Biblical grace.

Some people are concerned that believing the Reward message and Salvation message will hinder their uniqueness. Actually, these models result in the individual becoming more unique and more the person God created them to be because it is God that flows through them. These models are really foundational. They are tools.

When people drive down a street, they notice the differences between the buildings. Each building is unique. People don’t look at the foundations. In fact, the only time anyone notices a foundation is when it is faulty. Likewise, the principles in this blog are meant to help you fix your foundation so that God can build something unique on top of it.

These principles also quickly expose the flaws in other peoples’ foundations. Furthermore, you may notice that a significant number of speakers spend their time disguising their faulty foundation rather than instruct you on how to improve your foundation.

Unfortunately, there are speakers who focus on making everyone’s building the same. This denies uniqueness. Jesus didn’t deny uniqueness. He related to people differently.

Jesus and Paul are saying that God has given everyone different abilities and they are judged on their ability to return a just and righteous value. God doesn’t give anyone an assigned advantage over anyone else. The value (talent) is on an individual basis and is not affected by the value given to others. The value is not confined to salvation and covering sin. The value is dependent on the individual’s ability and purpose.

What is this value? Who are you? We will spend next week using a new tool to examine the uniqueness of every individual.

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Profitability Passages

When I mentioned the need for a universal measure to determine who continues the journey after physical death, you may have wanted to call this “good”. You could have said, “Good people go to Heaven; bad people don’t.” My response would have been to ask you how you would objectively measure “good”.

Actually, some form of the word “profit” is used throughout the entire Bible as the universal measure of “good”. We are all familiar with profit as it relates to money, but the word in the Bible applies to that and more. For example, Jesus makes profitability (which he called “bearing fruit”) the universal measure to determine whether people are going to Heaven or hell.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:1-2, 6)

Next to the kingdom of Heaven, Jesus spoke about money more than any other topic. Jesus used money examples to illustrate the importance of profitability in an undeniable and immediate way. Here’s an excerpt from the parable of the talents that was covered in the uniqueness posts:

“For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 25:29-30)

We see that being unprofitable is bad. Another term for unprofitable is “vain”. There are several passages in the Bible that speak poorly of people doing things in vain, that is, without a profit. Notice, the previously mentioned passages relate to the salvation message. Since God is the ultimate source of the value created, we can’t claim any credit for the result.

Another place the Bible speaks of profitability is when it talks about the body. It sees people as different parts of the body. The body as a whole is profitable because of all of its parts. So, everyone can contribute a value. We’ve seen the same perspective in the post on qualitative uniqueness. Ultimately, the cause of the value of the individual is their uniqueness which was given by God.

“Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” (1 Corinthian 12:22-28)

Notice the parts that lack are given more honour and are actually the most important to the body. Why? The profitability of the body as a whole is dependent on the amount it consumes and the amount it produces. There is a limit to the amount some parts of the body can produce. In fact, the passage says the parts that produce more than they consume “have no need”.

However, there is no limit to the amount some parts of the body can consume. In reality, the parts of the body that have lack have a greater impact on the profitability of the body as a whole.

Likewise, in our society, the members that consume the most without producing are actually the most important and deserve the most attention because they have the greatest impact on the profitability of us as a whole. This passage says we are all affected by the suffering of others and their lack of profitability affects us all, because we are all connected.

Notice the Profitability philosophy accounts for interactions between people. The Survival philosophy depends on people remaining isolated. We saw in the parable of the talents that profitability is the result of two things:
1) People valuing things differently (uniqueness)
2) People interacting.

The unprofitable servant isolated himself by burying the talent. Jesus said he would have gone to Heaven if he had interacted with just one person: the banker.

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Survival Mode

The first philosophy states that resources are finite and humans consume resources. Therefore, survival is dependent on minimizing consumption. The central belief of this philosophy is to deny the self. Go without. The only time resources are consumed is to avoid death. Everything about the society tries to minimize progress. This necessitates the need to isolate the society from the rest of the world and go into a maintenance mode.

This could be done in the past, not today. The world has matured towards interdependence. In fact, today these societies have shown progress in technology and defense. It should be obvious to these societies that they are contradicting their core beliefs. As we’ve learned, there are no contradictions. Therefore, this is a flawed philosophy because they can’t follow it completely and survive. Besides, what is the end result of this philosophy? Death. Eventually all the resources will be consumed and everyone will die. This philosophy just slows down the inevitable and focuses on survival. I call this the “Survival” philosophy.

The other philosophy states that resources are infinite if they are created (produced) by the humans who consume them. The ultimate goal is for society as a whole to produce more than they consume. How is this done? In the short-term, resources are consumed not only for survival, but to generate resources of more value. We called this profitability.

In the Long Term, effort should be spent to develop more efficient ways to use resources, so that less resources are used, like the first philosophy. Notice, this is second because efficiencies can only be generated once the process is well understood…and that takes time. For now, let’s call this the “Profitability” philosophy.

This Profitability method is much better than the Survival philosophy at ensuring the minimum quantity of resources is used. Why isn’t the Profitability philosophy obvious? There are a lot of reasons. The biggest one is that people look short-term. This Profitability philosophy is risky and could result in a quicker death if it isn’t done well. If people chase after short-term profitability, it can result in a Long Term decline in profitability.

The Survival philosophy is appealing because it is safer and more comfortable for people to prolong an inevitable death. The Profitability philosophy requires thought and intentional effort to create new methods. As we’ve seen, growth is not comfortable.

Survival Philosophy
1. Resources are finite
2. Humans consume resources
3. Minimize consumption to slow down the inevitable: death

Profitability Philosophy
1. Resources are infinite, if humans produce
2. Humans consume resources
3. Short-term: Use resources to generate resources of more value
4. Long Term: Become more efficient

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Profitability

The importance of profitability is obvious to every person in the world. For example, profitability is a universal principle that has been used to measure the progress of mankind. All of us consume whether it is food, energy, etc. In order for any endeavor to survive over the Long Term it must produce more than it consumes. Think about it, our country couldn’t survive on what was produced 200 years ago. In order to create more we must use the principle of profitability.

Profitability is the difference in value between what an object is worth and what the object cost to create.

Profitability = Worth - Cost of creation

Notice that worth is not simply the sum of the raw materials and the labor (time) needed to make the object. Since the time needed to make the object has a value, this would result in breaking even. Profitability is everything gained beyond what it cost and that doesn’t necessarily have to be money. Also, keeping with our focus on being intentional, profitability doesn’t just happen. It must be a goal in order for it to be achieved.

Profitability is completely dependent on uniqueness. If everyone valued everything exactly the same, there would be no way for people to become profitable. Profitability is the effect resulting from people exchanging value for value…but the individuals have to value things at different amounts in order for everyone to be profitable.

For instance, let’s say someone has an object they value at $5, while you value it at $15. If you buy it for $10, both parties actually become profitable by $5. However, if both parties valued it the same ($10), then they couldn’t be profitable.

The Creator built profitability into this world when unique beings were created. Trying to get people to value things the same goes against uniqueness and profitability. We need people to value things differently. Profitability is at the heart of the difference between two distinct philosophies about how life is sustained over the Long Term...

...which will be covered in the Next Post.

Quantitative Uniqueness

We’ve covered the parable of the talents during the discussion of grace. This parable also demonstrates quantitative uniqueness.

“For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.” (Matthew 25:14-15)

God gave (gifted) each individual a different number of talents from “his goods”. Again, we see God is not only determining the uniqueness of the individual, He is also the source.

The rest of the story brings up an effect of uniqueness. Two of these individuals used the talents they were given to produce more. One individual hid his talent.

After a long time, God returns to find out what they’ve done with their talents. God compliments the two individuals who have used their talents to produce more. God says their actions show they are faithful and He says He will make them rulers. However, the individual that hid the money is a different story.

The individual tells God his excuse for not producing anything. God used Justice by showing that the individual’s excuse should have led him to a different action. In fact, God even points out the servant knew something, but his actions didn’t follow what he thought he knew. God is still focused on thinking and the individual’s thought process.

Notice also that God could have looked at the one talent and tried to condemn the third servant. Instead, God asks for reasons. God is NOT trying to condemn this person. He is trying to find a way the servant could be right. This would be right and just of God. God ONLY condemns the person once they have given their explanation. We would do well to follow this example. We should be trying to find out where others are right and make every attempt to ask them to clarify their reasons before judging them...otherwise, we open ourselves up to judgment if we are wrong. God NEVER opens Himself up to judgment because He is always looking to justify each of us.

God calls the servant wicked and slothful. Then God finishes His discussion with the servant by telling him what he ought to have done in order to be righteous. Now God is able to execute judgment.

At the end of the story, God sends the individual to hell. Notice, this had nothing to do with the amount of value God gave to each. It had everything to do with what the individual did with the value given to them. The individual who gained 2 talents did not do as well as the individual who gained 5 talents. However, they both made it into the joy of the Lord.

In fact, God told the individual with the one talent that he would have been fine if he had just made interest on the talent. Instead, the individual was punished because he did not gain anything with the talent, although he had the ability to produce more with the talent.

Profitability is dependent on two actions: 1. Valuing uniqueness and 2. Exchanging value. You cannot be profitable if you do not exchange value. You cannot be profitable if you exchange value with someone who values everything the same as you. So the measure of whether you OUGHT to be interacting with someone is the ability to profitable in the Long Term. THIS is the reason Paul gives for breaking connections with people. Paul gives the CAUSE and illustrates it with EFFECTS. Be careful with leaders and teachers who preach EFFECTS and can't explain the CAUSES (give the reason why).

REMEMBER, this entry is part of a series talking about SALVATION due to GRACE. This parable is saying that GOD put the talent (value) inside of us AND will give us personally direction on how to exchange it. This is NOT works. Works would be if the individual was the source of the talent AND/OR the individual determined who they exchanged with...OR let other people determine who they could exchange with. God directs each of us (grace) to value the uniqueness of others and to exchange with people that will result in Long Term profitability. The Long Term profitability is proof it was of God...but we are not saved BECAUSE of the profitability. Grace is the CAUSE. Profitability is the EFFECT. We are eventually saved due to CAUSES.

Tradition makes the word of God unprofitable (of none effect) by denying uniqueness and limiting the people we can exchange with...ALL the third servant had to do was exhange with ONE PERSON (the banker to receive interest) and he would have gone to Heaven. Instead, he returned the talent back to God AFTER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME...so he actually gave God something that was of LESS value than when he got it due to inflation. Be careful of leaders who try to make everyone the same and limit the people you are able to exchange with!

We need an objective way to measure progress. However, since we are unique beings, we can’t come up with a set of specific actions to measure the progress. This is known as “works”.

We saw this both with the Two Messages and what Paul thought of doing the “right” thing for the wrong reason. While “works” results in rewards through Justice, it does not result in salvation. Remember, the Salvation and Reward Models are separate. We will need a universal principle based on Righteous, Just, and uniqueness that measure our progress.

Furthermore, in order for God to remain Holy, there must be a universal measure based on our uniqueness that God can objectively use to determine who will get saved and continue the journey.

We saw with Justice that determining a model applying to all conditions requires us to identify a universal principle. The key to identifying this principle is to continue stepping back and taking a Big Picture view. Recall that it looks to most people like Justice doesn’t exist because we see good people die young. Yet, we realize that Justice does exist when we step back and see that their death isn’t the end of receiving value.

The biggest mistake people make in modeling is to stop short and declare something as a universal principle and require people to obey it. This action ends up denying the universal principle of uniqueness. Profitability is a universal principle and it is used to measure progress.

We saw Jesus described the ability to enter the kingdom of Heaven with the parable of the talents. Three people were given different amounts. After a time, God assessed what they did. The two who created more were let into Heaven. The one who created nothing was sent to hell.

This person would have made it to Heaven if he had simply generated interest (Matthew 25:27). That is, all the people were judged on their ability to generate a profit. In fact, Jesus called evil servants “unprofitable”. (Matthew 25:30)

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Qualitative Uniqueness

Paul likens this qualitative uniqueness to a body where each part is necessary and serves a different purpose. Likewise, we can’t all do the same things, but we are all necessary.

“For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?”
(1 Corinthians 12:14-17)

Remember, the Law saw everyone as the same. Paul is saying being seen as different is not a bad thing; in fact, it results in more value for everyone. Everyone benefits from the abilities of others. Paul continues:

“But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.” (1 Corinthians 12:18-21)

Again, Paul shows that God has a different purpose for each person depending on the unique gift he’s been given. God set the members in the body. God is “the potter” in the first passage. Notice, this passage shows God sees us as unique beings.

However, not only do we have different talents, but also we have different quantities of each talent. In the next post, we will look at the quantitative aspect of uniqueness.

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Uniqueness

Let’s look at an important implication of our non-contradictory definitions for faith and grace: uniqueness. Remember, Biblical grace states God is influencing the hearts of individuals.

We are not under the Law that treated everyone the same. Grace doesn’t give us all one set of rules to live by. The New Testament definition of grace says the person needs to let God carry out the action He is telling them to do for their situation. Therefore, our actions depend on the situation and our uniqueness.

One consequence is that this action may not be what God is telling others to do in the same situation. In fact, God might be telling others to do something different than what He is telling you. God needs to treat everyone differently because each person is unique.

“Uniqueness” is the belief we are all made differently for a different purpose or use.

“Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” (Romans 9:21)


Dishonour doesn’t mean “useless”. For example, some pottery is meant to be displayed, while others are meant to be used. It is up to the potter whether he wants the lump of clay to serve a delicate or hearty purpose. Like pottery, some people were made to carry out delicate functions while others do the less glamorous work. This aspect of uniqueness is qualitative.

When I discuss the God Model (which is on the website) with people, one of the first objections I get is that God can’t be defined because He is different to different people. I like to explain this by seeing ourselves as ships on the ocean with God as a lighthouse.

Every ship sees the lighthouse. Every ship communicates with every other ship the location of the lighthouse relative to their location. However, no two headings are the same; one sees the lighthouse due east while another sees it due west. At this point, it looks as if there are two possibilities: 1) There is only one lighthouse or 2) There is more than one lighthouse.

If the ships all originated from the same point, then there has to be multiple unique lighthouses. However, if the ships originated from different points, then it is possible there is one lighthouse. When people say God can’t be defined, they are denying uniqueness. They are really saying people are the same, so there must be many God Models.

If a person focuses on justifying themselves, then they are going to conclude there must be more than one lighthouse. If a person focuses on justifying God, then they are going to conclude there must be one God and the different perspectives are a result of the uniqueness of people.

The God Model is the result of discussing God with people from many walks of life for four years. When I focused on justifying God, I realized there must be higher principles that can account for the different perspectives people have of God. I like to think that God made it so that we would have to discuss Him with others in order to understand Him more.

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Grace is Sufficient

One popular section on grace that is completely mishandled is 2 Corinthians 12:1-10:

It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. For I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I don't know, or whether out of the body, I don't know; God knows), such a one caught up into the third heaven.

I know such a man (whether in the body, or outside of the body, I don't know; God knows),

how he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in my weaknesses.

For if I would desire to boast, I will not be foolish; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, so that no man may think more of me than that which he sees in me, or hears from me.

By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively.

Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.

Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.

What is Paul saying?

The first six verses explain about a man who saw things worthy of boasting. Yet, Paul says in the sixth verse that if he boasted it would not be foolish because he would speak truth. Then he says the reason he doesn’t speak on these things is for the benefit of others. He doesn’t want others to see him as more than he really is.

The seventh verse then gives the reason why he is tormented. It is because of the exceeding greatness of the revelations.

Paul then tells us he asked the Lord three times to remove the torment and God replied, “My grace is sufficient for you”. What does this mean?

Why would Paul need “unmerited favor”? Paul is in torment because of a great revelation and the response OTHERS may have to this. Was this a sin?

The only non-contradictory explanation is charis. Paul has a solution: remove the thorn. God is responding that He has a plan and Paul needs to let God divinely influence his heart and let the influence reflect in his life RATHER than do his plan.

Paul essentially has to become “weak” and not do his plan, so God can do His plan. God’s plan is to have Paul know things so he can teach others FOR THEIR BENEFIT…AND be tormented so these people don’t exalt him excessively.

Whenever someone else speaks on this passage, ask them why Paul needed “grace”. Ask them if Paul had sinned in having a revelation. Ask them if Paul sinned when he determined not to boast for the benefit of others. Ask what was the cause of Paul’s torment.

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Grace and Works

There are passages that speak of failing grace:

“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” (Hebrews 12:15-17)

This passage shows that we can fail the grace of God. Esau failed of grace because he wasn’t diligent and made a bad decision. Notice there was nothing that could undo it. If grace were infinite unmerited favor from God, and God’s responsibility, Esau wouldn’t be at fault and the situation would be fixable.

“Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
(James 4:6)

The “more” in this passage refers to the fact there is more grace available to us than the evil in us. Notice what can prevent the grace. Grace resist the proud who won’t put God first and listen to Him. It is given to the humble because they put God first.

It takes humility to willingly forgo your own desires and allow God to direct your actions. No wonder the proud don’t have grace. They are unwilling to listen to God and do it His way. They are unwilling to be obedient to God. Grace can’t overcome the sin of pride.

The traditional definition of grace puts the responsibility on God. The New Testament definition of grace puts the responsibility on the individual. This is where the confusion with works occurs.

“But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
(James 2:20-26)

“Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” (Romans 11:5-6)

In the first passage James is saying people are justified by works. In the second passage Paul is saying if we are saved by works than it is not by grace. How do we solve this apparent contradiction? It all comes back to understanding cause and effect.

We are saved by causes (i.e., grace and faith). Works are the specific results (effects) of grace and faith. The actions (works) don’t save us, the causes do. We will see works in people who have the causes. Therefore faith and grace are made perfect when it leads to works; otherwise it isn’t faith or grace. This is the point of the first passage.

Take a moment to allow this point to sink in. Faith and grace are proven (justified) by works. If a person believes they are operating in Biblical faith and grace, yet they lack the actions that naturally result from these causes of salvation, they don’t really have grace and faith…no matter how much they try to convince themselves and others.

However, remember there may be more than one cause that result in an observed effect. In this case, works aren’t solely a result of grace and faith. If someone has the effects, they could have them for the wrong causes. They may even decide the effects (works) are what save them. This is the point of the second passage.

For example, people who decide to be overly polite and treat everyone and every situation the same are relying on works. They think the action is righteous in and of itself. Rather than justifying grace, they are frustrating it. We saw this with people who look to the Law as a cause.

This is the opposite of grace. If they were following Biblical grace, they’d let God tell them how to interact with each individual person and situation. In some cases, God may tell the individual to be less than polite, but season their response with salt.

Summary
Paul is saying that people who do the right things (effects) for the wrong reasons (causes) are counting on works (effects) to save them. Paul spends a lot of time explaining this. The reason these passages are confusing is that people take the traditional model of grace and think a specific effect can only come from one cause.

With the traditional model, grace saves us regardless of what we do, that is, regardless of our works. In fact, traditional faith and grace do not account for actions in their definitions. Traditional grace begins with you taking a wrong action and ends with God giving you value. Biblical grace begins with God giving you a value (gift) and is made perfect with you taking a right action by letting God work through you.

Paul is saying that works are valuable, BUT they don’t save you. The only way works can be important, but not the reason, is if works are an effect of the cause that saves us…the same conclusion resulting from our non-contradictory definitions and models of faith and grace!

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Situational Grace

We’ve seen that grace is specific and situational. Let’s look at a scripture the “unmerited favor” believers abuse:

“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” (Colossians 4:6)

If this were unmerited favor, our speech would be the same positive message to everyone about favor they don’t deserve. However, “seasoned with salt” means the response may not be completely positive and needs to have the bitterness removed. In addition, the only way to know how “ye ought to answer” is if you are letting your heart be divinely influenced from God and letting it come out in your speech (actions).

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

This makes grace out to be something you can intentionally go looking for. Besides, how would unmerited favor specifically help a person in time of need? This passage says grace must be some specific knowledge God gives us about what we should do in a specific time of need.

When people say grace is “assigned advantage”, it implies that God gives some more grace than others and there’s nothing we can do about it. God is not a respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34)

Our non-contradictory model says grace is available to anyone who wants it. It is not withheld from some more than others. Some do have more grace and some fail grace, but it is because of the individual, not because of God…otherwise it wouldn’t be right or just.

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Grace Instructs

Another great example of charis (grace) is Titus 2:11-12:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world;

How does “unmerited favor” instruct us? Instruct means something is taught. The divine influence on the heart definitely instructs us. In order to ignore this fact, people have to become comparative and/or live with contradiction. Instruct also implies that we can have more understanding, especially when it comes to grace.

As for us being able to understand grace, if we weren’t supposed to understand it then there would be no reason for people to try to explain it to us in the Bible. Here are more verses trying to help us understand grace.

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus, our Lord, According to his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:2)

“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)

These verses say we are supposed to grow in grace and knowledge. We can see the traditional definition of grace contradicts these Bible passages, while our non-contradictory model of grace as being something we have the power to frustrate, give to others, and intentionally grow in, fits perfectly. Let’s look at some passages that more specifically show grace applies to actions for specific situations.

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Jesus Needed Grace?

There are several scriptures in the New Testament containing “charis” (grace). However, there is only one definition that results in a non-contradictory interpretation for EVERY New Testament scripture containing “charis”.

Unfortunately, I have found that people adhering to the traditional definition of grace will become comparative in order to make each scripture that contradicts “unmerited favor” more abstract. For instance, look at what Luke 2:40 says about Jesus:

The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

Why would Jesus need unmerited favor? Jesus never sinned. Besides, wasn’t Jesus’ favor “merited”?…afterall, he is God. The only way this passage makes sense is if grace means Jesus let God direct his actions…which Jesus was always quick to confirm.

Let’s look at a couple more scriptures:

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29)

“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” (Galatians 2:21)

We can give grace to others and we can frustrate the grace of God. If our model of grace comes from our non-contradictory definition, these passages read differently.

The first passage is saying that our words to others that result in a benefit are grace to the hearers. We are the influence and the hearers make the choice as to whether they will let it influence their hearts and come out in their actions. It is a beautiful example of what God’s grace is to the individual and an opportunity for us to be more like God.

The second passage says that God’s divine influence to the individual can be frustrated if the individual is looking to the law for righteousness. In fact it says that Christ died so that God can influence us individually in order to make us righteous.

Remember, grace occurs between God and the individual. The Law treated everyone the same. Notice looking to the Law results in everyone getting exactly the same information and “righteousness” comes from the individual.

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New Testament Grace

Paul said that it is a good thing the heart be established with "grace". The most important AND most misunderstood doctrine involves salvation.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Our salvation depends on "faith" and "grace".

I have covered FAITH in previous posts.

The current definition of GRACE used by most "Christians" is "unmerited favor". This definition was given to us by Martin Luther roughly 500 years ago. This definition did NOT exist during the time of the apostles. This doctrine of GRACE is NOT God's doctrine, it is man-made tradition...and therefore contradictory.

The apostles' doctrine of GRACE can be attained through the definition of the Greek word "charis". With the exception of one verse (James 1:11), every time the word "grace" occurs in the King James version of the New Testament, the word is "charis".

CHARIS, 5485 "the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life" (Strong's Concordance)

Let me be clear...the Greek word "charis" has many meanings depending on usage. In some cases it is translated into English as "thank", "favor", and "gift". Where it has been translated into "grace" (except for James 1:11), its definition is "the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life".

This is the ONLY non-contradictory definition that fits all the verses containing "charis" translated as "grace"!

(Some people claim that Aristotle defined "charis" as "unmerited favor". However, this is Aristotle's actual definition: "that which is freely bestowed with no expectation of return; an act which finds its only motive in the good heartedness of the giver". Notice anything? This is actually "love". This definition doesn't fit the Apostles' doctrine of "grace", it would lead to contradictions in several other applications of "grace"...but it fits Jesus' and the Apostles' definition of "love". I wrote about this before that people take the definition of "love" and use it for "grace"...then they have a contradictory definition of "love". How many contradictory answers will it take before people pursue the truth?)

(Let me be clear about this: Aristotle's definition gives the CAUSE of the value as the good heartedness of the giver. Luther gives the CAUSE of the value as "our need". Luther changed the CAUSE of the giving of the value. It is a subtle point that has huge ramifications: I believe God loves everyone...God gives to everyone out of the kindness of His heart...whether we need it or not. I believe God influences everyone's heart and it is our choice to let it reflect in our life or not. Calvinism (man-made tradition) believes that God's love (can't define) and grace (unmerited favor) are ONLY given to those who will go to heaven BECAUSE they need it...and there is nothing the person going to heaven can do about it...the salvation of the individual is completely out of the control of the individual. THIS leads to "One Way Justice".)

There is no way to make "grace" into "unmerited favor" without introducing man-made tradition. There are two key points here for those who oppose this definition. First, this person needs to show why "grace" doesn't mean "the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life" for a specific verse without resorting to man-made tradition. Second, this person needs to show how they arrived at the definition of "unmerited favor" for a specific verse without resorting to man-made tradition.

It is sad to argue this point with modern day Pharisees...the lengths they will go to in order to hold to tradition!

1. Newer versions of the Bible of the Bible interpret "charis" into other words in some passages in order to remove the contradictions created by "unmerited favor"! Even these people realize "unmerited favor" doesn't fit every use of "charis". Realize ALL of the usages of "charis" were done in a very narrow window of time...during the time the New Testament was written. The meaning of this word DIDN'T change during this time. Also, they had ALL the other Greek words to choose from...if they wanted to say "unmerited favor", they didn't need to use "charis".

2. People argue that words have several meanings and are not precise enough tools...and they do this with words (hypocritically like a Pharisee). We've covered this arguments contradictions in the post called the Importance of WORDS.

3. People redefine "grace" from "unmerited favor" to "the giving of a value without expecting a return". THIS is the non-contradictory definition of LOVE from Jesus' mouth! LOVE is a GREAT DOCTRINE but now the person can't define LOVE. Love is certainly an EFFECT of GRACE, but to panic and wreck the doctrine of LOVE in order to maintain the tradition of GRACE is UNSOUND DOCTRINE.

4. The majority says GRACE is "unmerited favor". Paul wrote that we all should hold to sound (non-contradictory) doctrine and that at the end there will be people who try to sway us with unsound doctrine. In fact, he said people will HEAP teachers to themselves to support their tradition-based doctrine. "Unmerited favor" is NOT a doctrine Paul taught, so this is not a doctrine Paul was writing about. Second, being in the majority is more likely to result in unsound doctrine.

Besides, "unmerited favor" violates justice! Why is it that people are ONLY for one way justice? If something bad happens that the person didn't cause, EVERYONE believes they deserve to be compensated. However when something good happens that the person didn't cause, MOST people don't think the person OUGHT to pay...like "unmerited favor"...a man-made idea that completely violates justice and results in contradictory (unsound) doctrine.

Let's look at the Ephesians verses that opened this section and answer the following questions:
1. Do you deserve credit for your salvation? If your answer is "yes" then that is WORKS. The verse said salvation is NOT of WORKS, so you don't deserve credit for your salvation...it is a gift from God.
2. Are you responsible for your salvation? If your answer is "no" then this is "unmerited favor" (and sovereignty and predestination...man-made doctrines created by John Calvin!). Martin Luther was so convinced we were not responsible for our actions that he thought it was okay for a married man to have affairs...after all, God made men to have a high sex drive AND THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT. This unsound doctrine results in God deciding who goes to heaven and who goes to hell...ALL completely against the will of the individual. Currently, people who don't like THAT result are saying EVERYONE has grace AND NO ONE can resist it...so NO ONE goes to hell! Do you want to embrace THIS man-made doctrine (tradition) over God's doctrine?

The answer is that we don't get credit for our salvation but we are responsible for it. The ONLY non-contradictory explanation is CHARIS!

God works through us and our ONLY responsibility is to humble ourselves and choose to allow God to work through us!

I've had someone explain it like medicine. The medicine cures us. However we are responsible for choosing to take the medicine. When we choose to take the medicine how ridiculous would it sound to claim, "I healed myself!" No, the medicine healed you.

There are several passages that can ONLY be CHARIS. I've covered them more here:
Luke 2:40
Titus 2:11-12
Hebrews 4:16
Grace and Works
My Grace is Sufficient (This one is the ONLY non-contradictory explanation for Pauls' thorn in the flesh. EVERY sermon on this topic is currently contradictory.)

Looking back at the Ephesians passage, Paul is ACTUALLY telling us how EVERYONE who will be in heaven got there! EVERYONE who makes it to heaven did so because they let God influence their heart through faith. This removes the contradictory answers we currently give to "How did people get saved BEFORE Jesus?" They chose to let God influence their heart and allow Him to work through them.

Salvation is dependent on RIGHTEOUSNESS. Whenever salvation is mentioned in the Bible, righteousness is the requirement. Some people think salvation is dependent on lack of sin. EVERY human (except Jesus) who makes it to heaven will have sinned. Clearly, that is a contradictory explanation for the doctrine of salvation that only leads to more man-made explanations of Jesus' sacrifice. Unfortunately, it also leads to people thinking THEY can stop sinning...which only wears them out once they do sin AND actually takes them further from the doctrine of GRACE!

In fact, there are tradition-minded people who think GRACE covers every sin! Jesus said there is no repentance for blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. James says: "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble." (James 4:6)

Grace is unable to overcome the sin of PRIDE. This is because GRACE is "charis" and God CANNOT influence the heart of a person who isn't humble enough to follow God's influence instead of their flesh. What other explanation is there? Why do these modern day Pharisees focus so much on sin and make GRACE the abstract reason we go to heaven?

The Pharisees had this SAME doctrine of sin! They created their own traditions and taught them as commandments from God. They focused people on removing sin in order to control them and keep them frustrated. Jesus was focused on righteousness!

Let's close this section with a verse that will bring this all together:
"For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20)

Righteousness has two sources: God and ourselves.

The Bible says OUR righteousness is as filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6)

Therefore the ONLY righteousness that gains us salvation is God's righteousness...CHARIS.

Reread the passage from Matthew...the Pharisees shall NOT enter the kingdom. Otherwise, Jesus would have said except our righteousness meets or exceeds. Why would we need MORE righteousness if the righteousness of the Pharisees was enough?

ALL we need is righteousness from God...and even the littlest bit is MORE than ALL the righteousness from the Pharisees. A robber hung on the cross next to Jesus...his one act of letting God flow through him EXCEEDED the righteousness of the Pharisees.

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Traditional Grace

“For by grace ye are saved through faith…” (Ephesians 2:8) We have modeled faith. The second definition and model we need in order to model salvation is “grace”.

When you ask most people their definition of “grace”, their answer is “unmerited favor”. Some people think this was the definition in the Old Testament. According to Strong’s Concordance, the word for “grace” in the Old Testament was “chen” and has a reference number of 2580. It means “kindness” or “favor”. It is from a root word “chawan” (reference number 2603) meaning “to stoop in kindness to an inferior.” The definition “unmerited favor” does not come from the Old Testament.” This definition is based on tradition.

Others may even say it is “assigned advantage”. If we take a step back and look at this, we have to ask, “Why does God prefer some people over others?” Is this right? Is this just? Is it just for some to get value they didn’t deserve?

Scarier still are the implications of this traditional grace definition as it relates to Justice. Remember, Jesus said that tradition makes the Word of God of none effect. When we do wrong, Justice demands that we pay. However, this definition of grace says we have unmerited favor (value we didn’t earn). How does this "traditional grace" work according to this definition?

When a person does wrong, they have to pay. This is the foundation of the principle of Justice. This traditional definition says the person pays (and continues to pay) with the unmerited value they received from God. Now that their debt is paid and they are righteous, they can go to Heaven. This actually raises a lot of questions.

First of all, this definition of grace DOESN'T result in righteousness. It would theoretically result in lack of sin. Salvation is dependent on our Righteousness exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisees. Why haven't today's religious leaders realized unmerited favor CAN'T possibly result in salvation?

Second, if God’s grace is boundless, this person could continue to do wrong and never have to worry about running out of unmerited value. In fact, if we are supposed to grow in grace, how do we do it? The way to grow in grace is to sin more so that this “grace” would flow through the individual more. It seems this definition encourages people to sin more so they can grow in grace. Paul realized this was not the definition of grace and stated people will misunderstand it in this fashion. (Romans 6:1)

Finally, Justice says we are still going to have to pay for this value we got from God. God may give us value to pay for sins here, but we still need to reimburse God. How would we be able to get to Heaven when we owe a huge debt? This definition of grace creates a Grace Model and a Salvation Model that are full of contradictions. What is your Grace Model?

Obviously, this traditional definition of grace makes no sense, but that’s where traditional faith comes in: believe something you can’t understand. So we can see why people have this model of faith and grace. They can continue to sin because they have unlimited value and it doesn’t make sense. Further, they look to the fact this doesn’t make sense to prove their definition of faith. When we extend this model, we find the belief (faith) is based on a feeling.

Finally, if grace depends on feelings instead of reason, God would have no issue with people who believe something different than His plan because they just as easily could have felt their contradictory plan was right. God can only condemn people if they have done something opposite of what they know to be right. If faith doesn’t take into account knowledge, but goes by feelings, then God can’t justly condemn anyone. It only takes a couple of questions to expose the flaws in this model. What is your Salvation Model?

Yet, these people tell us to believe in their God. Why? There is no benefit or penalty in not believing. Basically, we have to ignore or modify our concept of Justice in order to make these Faith and Grace Models consistent with each other and salvation. However, we know: 1) There must be a non-contradictory Grace Model and 2) Faith is based on understanding and experience.

Actually, EVERYONE lives according to unmerited favor. People who don't go to church try to be good and know they aren't. However, they hope God will cover over their sin because of their intentions. No wonder there is no difference between people who go to church and people who don't when it comes to the divorce rate, drug use, teen pregnancy, adultery, etc.

If you are interested in finding out the true definition of grace, go to the next post...otherwise you are choosing to value tradition over the Word of God.
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Abraham's Faith

Hebrews 11 contains “The Faith Hall of Fame”. The author gives a list of people who exhibited great faith. If you were to go through this list, you would find that every one of these people carried out their actions based on understanding and/or experience.

NONE of these people believe something that didn’t make sense or was impossible simply because God said it. Whether it was Gideon asking for signs from God or David recalling how he killed animals, each person believed because of understanding and/or experience.

Think about that, Gideon is listed as a man of great faith AND he needed signs in order to believe!

Within the list, the author even explains why Abraham had great faith. Let’s look more closely at Abraham and WHY he had great faith.

Hebrews 11:17-19 says:

By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son;

even he to whom it was said, "In Isaac will your seed be called;

"concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.

Notice the first verse proves Abraham had great faith because of his actions: he offered up Isaac.

The next two verses give the reason WHY. Abraham knew God’s promise that Isaac was to be the source of his descendents. Abraham also had experience with God that convinced him God would be able to raise Isaac from the dead if that’s what it would take to keep the promise.

The author didn’t simply say that Abraham believed and offered Isaac. The author explains WHY Abraham believed. We even see this in Genesis 22:5 and 8:

Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder. We will worship, and come back to you."

Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they both went together.

Abraham tells the young men, “WE will come back to you.” Was Abraham lying?

Abraham didn’t know HOW God was going to keep His promise; he just knew God would keep His promise. Abraham stated this belief before he offered Isaac up by saying, “WE will come back to you.”


SUMMARY
Great faith is proven when a person’s actions follow his experience and understanding to believe in something that hasn’t happened yet and/or can’t be seen. Clearly, Jesus told us to build our faith intentionally. Jesus measured a person’s faith by the results…by his actions.

Faith can’t simply be “believing the impossible” without explanation or understanding. Jesus wouldn’t have reasoned in each of the previous examples if it were not understandable. Hebrews 11 lists people who had great faith. All of these examples involve understanding and experience.

God starts us out with experiential faith. However, if we aren’t focusing on backing this up with understanding and turning it into understanding-based faith, then we are going to lose our faith as soon as something happens differently than what we have previously experienced.

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Great Faith

“The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel.” (Matthew 8:8-10)

Jesus actually marveled at what the centurion said! Can you imagine making Jesus marvel at you? Jesus said the centurion had great faith. Why? What did the centurion say? He said that he believed Jesus could heal the person by just saying the word.

What did the centurion do? He prevented Jesus from coming under his roof. Faith was shown by his actions. Let’s look at how the centurion demonstrated both forms of faith.

The centurion understood why Jesus could just say the word because he knew how it worked in his life. In fact, he quoted both experience and understanding! Everything after the “For…” is the centurion’s reason why he believed Jesus could heal the man only by saying the word. Basically, it was experience in his relations with people and understanding in who Jesus was in the spirit realm.

The centurion understood from experience that anything that functions properly must have order. He understood his place. He stated this twice. He understood he was under authority and acted as authority in his professional life. So he knew from his professional experience the process of authority.

He had understanding of who Jesus was and that the Spiritual realm had to work the same way. This caused Jesus to marvel because the centurion applied this professional experience to his personal life and let his actions follow. The centurion understood he was also under authority in his personal life when he called Jesus “Lord” and said he wasn’t worthy to have Jesus in his house. He even supported the actions he was taking with this reason. From the previous faith example, we can even suspect that Jesus marveled at the centurion’s thought process.

One more point: if the centurion really didn’t believe what he said, he would have had Jesus come to his house just in case the servant wasn’t healed. The centurion proved his faith by barring Jesus from the house because if his servant wasn’t healed, the centurion had no other recourse. His actions showed he truly believed a word from Jesus was sufficient.

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Little Faith

“Then Jesus said unto them (the disciples), Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:6-11)

Jesus got more specific in this passage about “little faith”. Jesus said the disciples had little faith because they focused on the physical and worried. Jesus believed they should have known better than to worry about bread. Notice Jesus said “Why reason…” Jesus is not saying they shouldn’t reason. His point is that they reasoned incorrectly. Otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t have said, “Do ye not understand…”

Besides, if they weren’t supposed to think, then Jesus wouldn’t have taken the time to explain it. In fact, Jesus doesn’t seem to care what they said. His focus is on their thought process, that is, why they said it. Clearly Jesus wants them to increase their faith and he’s going to show them why they have little faith. Why? Jesus gave two reasons.

First he focused on understanding-based faith when he asked them why they didn’t understand. As stated previously, Jesus asks why they reasoned among themselves about the wrong thing. Essentially, Jesus said they shouldn’t have worried about running out of bread because they should have understood Jesus wasn’t speaking about the physical.

I believe he spoke about understanding-based faith first because that is where they were lacking the most and that is the faith that will last the longest. It is the faith we should be focusing on.

Secondly, he spoke of experiential faith when he asked them if they remember the two miracles he performed when he provided bread. Jesus said they shouldn’t have worried about bread because they had personally seen Jesus perform two miracles concerning bread.

Their experiential faith should have told them they had access to an unlimited supply of bread. They should have realized Jesus could feed twelve if he could feed thousands. But the teaching session didn’t stop here…

Jesus finishes by asking them how they didn’t understand that he wasn’t talking about bread. Jesus actually is focused on their thought process. He is interested in helping them improve their reasoning process…and it all comes from a discussion about faith.

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