176 Assessing Life Issues

Meaning: “conveying a significance that is not directly expressed . . .”

So, Gentle Reader, returning to our examination of meaning must-haves, if someone asked me what (to me) is the meaning of say . . . the Protestant Work Ethic, I would first differentiate between work and toil and then define the Ethic—it’s history, content and timelessness.

Following these steps, I would fashion my appraisal of work’s right meaning based upon a personal evaluation of what are, as I understand it, the tenets and applications of the Protestant Work Ethic and how well they comply with my list of meaning must-haves—my standards derived from Holy Scripture.

In this particular case—the Protestant Work Ethic— my meaning derived from right meaning-making standards would probably go something like this: The right meaning of the Protestant Work Ethic is that we are to first, love and serve the Lord (Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 22:36-40, NKJV) and second, work to eat (2 Thessalonians 3:6-15, NKJV).

In this way, for subject after subject, I would manage to assess life issues, all the while remembering that the addition of new insight might allow for modification of my conclusions. Make sense?

This thinking works well. It should, it is based on solid rock. Yet, even after all this effort on my part you can see how difficult it would be to make any absolute determination— that must be left to God Himself, Scripture rules all. This is a sane and humble and compassionate way to live. And by the grace of God, it works.

My choice.

To be continued . . .

175 Easter and Meaning

Meaning: “conveying a significance that is not directly expressed . . .”

This week I am detouring from our methodical pursuit of meaning in honor of the occasion--this is Holy Week in the Christian Church, Gentle Reader, the week preceding Christ’s Resurrection and the Celebration of Easter. Many thoughts have accompanied my Lenten Journey this year, most notably, thoughts concerning the meaning of Easter.

The great meaning of Easter to a human being, such as I, is the consolation of the Resurrection event itself, embodied in Christ Jesus. “Christ the firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23 NKJV)” introduces the reward of eternal life to all who would embrace the work of Jesus Christ of Nazareth on the cross.

It is no wonder then that the earliest commonly held Christian creed in the church is stated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: 1 – 5, NAB, St. Joseph Edition— “ Brothers, I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received and in which you stand firm. You are being saved by it at this very moment if you hold fast to it as I preached it to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. I handed on to you first of all what I myself received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that He was buried and, in accordance with the Scriptures, rose on the third day; that He was seen . . . ”

As noted in the Spirit-Filled Life Bible, NKJV, “The gospel is more than the forgiveness of sins; it includes Christ’s Resurrection and the subsequent renewal of all creation . . . Only persevering faith is saving faith. . . The gospel is God’s historical revelation of Himself in Christ. It is a saving event that literally happened in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as seen by reliable witnesses.”

The Pastor of our church says only two things matter—“truth and grace”—and in the community of believers this creed included in the teaching of Paul the Apostle expresses both the essential truth of the Gospel of Christ Jesus and the ultimate fulfillment of Grace in and through Christ. It is in this creed believers have been steadfast since the first coming of Christ and it is to this same creed that we today, or those of the future, must continue to steadfastly cling. In fact, we must consciously hold onto the promises of this creed—the hope in Christ Jesus which it declares—with unfailing expectation of reward in Christ Jesus.

How consoling such expectation is to us all, Dear Reader. We all face death. 1 Corinthians 15:19, NKJV goes on to say, “If our hope in Christ is limited to this life only, we are the most pitiable of men.” Scripture is clear on this matter, Gentle Reader, our hope in Christ Jesus by His saving grace is Resurrection to life worth living.

So celebrate with me this Resurrection—the believer’s crowning hope, Tender Reader. It is available to one and all for the asking. Paul urges us to understand that for humans, each believer must undergo death. But for the believer, like a seed our bodies are sown corruptible but raised incorruptible. Planted in the ground in death, each body corruptible, we are raised to a new body forever incorruptible—“Death is swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15: 42, 50-58, NKJV).”

This is the promise of the Resurrection, of Easter, and it is a timeless truth empowered by God’s amazing grace and true reason to celebrate.

If you too believe it, my hope is that you hold onto the promise of Easter for dear life, Gentle Reader. I do.

My choice.

To be continued . . .

174 Meaning Must-Haves!

Meaning: “conveying a significance that is not directly expressed . . .”

To measure meaningfulness, Thoughtful Reader, I accepted the challenges of meaning-making and went to Scripture for answers. Using Scripture, I employed the discovery methods I have bountifully described in blogs past: I embraced complexity. I went adventuring. I became a super-sleuth and threw myself into ardent seeking. And came up with the following general criterion to create a list of superior standards or meaning must-haves to order my thinking, to give me solid rock thinking. I do not claim that this is the only list possible or even in any way exhaustive, but at this point in my development it is what I find most useful in determining right meaning and now it is mine forever—worth the work!

12 Meaning Must-haves:

Clarity

Reasonableness

Faith Base

Humanity

Virtue

Rewards

Pragmatism

Validity

Durability

Quality

Value

Timelessness

To be continued . . .

173 Rock Solid Thinking

Meaning: “conveying a significance that is not directly expressed . . .”

I heartily embrace the kind of thinking demonstrated in the hymn “Solid Rock.” Primarily, Thoughtful Reader, because my standards derive from my firm commitment to Significant Truth #1: God. Only makes sense, I’m sure.

The well-exercised faculties of mine I mention in blog before last come from parental and familial influence and training in rigorous curriculum such as theology, math, engineering and computers, combined with life application in private enterprise and public service.

Other influences such as recognition that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop (This is not a Scriptural quote, though Thessalonians addresses idleness. It’s source—after replacing mind with brain— is the “Hand-book of Proverbs” by H.G. Bohn) and that an idle mind hand-in-hand with unruliness—what I call arbitrary thinking— is a slippery slope, have channeled my aspirations toward rock solid thinking and have governed standard formation in my life, together making me what I am and my standards what they are.

I have alluded to these standards in various ways in past blogs and pronounced, then as now, that they all derive from my Christ-centered life and Judeo-Christian heritage. Specifically and most importantly, they derive from the standards of Christ as the New Covenant and Fulfillment of the Law and from the New Testament of Holy Scripture. The denominational influences of Martin Luther and John Calvin, including his resulting Protestant Work Ethic (http://www.coe.uga.edu/~rhill/workethic/hist.htm ), also figure to an extent in my thinking systems as they do in the minds of most modern westerners whether they know it or not.

This Christian concept of work promotes an earnest approach to all work, but (and here is the great qualifier, as I call it) also requires that all work be dedicated to conforming the world to the parameters of the Kingdom of God. As this concept has grown secularized in today’s world, many now promote work as a bottom-line, self-serving materialism devoid of any respect to God or service to one’s fellow man. I do not. I base all my values on Christ the Solid Rock.

I recommend reading the link above on work because it profiles work from the time of the Garden of Eden until current times. Most interesting!

With all this in mind, my next blog will begin a sampling of these standards of mine. All solid rock here!

My choice.

Matthew 7:24-27 NKJV

Christ speaking—“Therefore whoever hears these saying of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

To be continued . . .