Crossing over

Recently I have come to appreciate some important lessons. Before I go on to discuss them, I have got to share the difference between learning and appreciation. Learning is foundational - it is merely a platform that gives access to greater things. Whether or not you go onto greater things has more to do with appreciation (or accident!).

So for instance, it's not just enough to learn about Faith and even doing it! Those Pharisees that Jesus had strong words for did their Faith, and those actions were completely in accordance with the (or their) Scriptures. But their works were not accredited to them by God as righteousness even though they gathered amongst one another and so commended each other.

Those who appreciate faith realise that it is rooted in love and primarily expressed in the way you treat other people. Anything short is of that is slightly problematic. It may be legalism, like those Pharisees to whom Jesus had nothing nice to say. It may be immaturity in that a person may not yet have began to appreciate the significance of the learning. Immaturity is not bad provided it is still guided by the propensity to grow up and not fat. It may be hypocrisy, that is good works that are done really to disguise bad motives.

This is where I begin to talk about crossing over. How do people cross over from learning to appreciation? That blurb would be rather long, so I will shorten in by saying, with appreciation comes conviction. With conviction come motivation, and with motivation comes the ability to conduct yourself in a particular way to achieve a loving result, without restraint.

If you appreciate the content of your Faith, then you will be living in the realm of having taking ownership of your faith.