Change In Order

We are thinking forward to the Senior Series in these Daily Pages and to the end of this writing project, aimed principally at young Christians in formulation of their faith and the context of Christian life – incorporating both formal (institutional) and experiential (daily life) education. I venture for this day to outline the context of life and culture for the biblical Christian – as I interpret the context.

1. The Christian must believe that God is first personal, dealing with each person in privacy from all other persons. This is made personal in Jesus Christ, who is recognized as the redemptive person. That redemptive experience introduces vital change in the total life of the person of Christian biblical faith.
2. The Christian will, during lifetime, be confronted with working out the conflict of good and evil in personal and social contexts. For persons in particular and society generally there is the challenge of the cultivation of righteousness, and resistance to evil – in large and small situations and contexts.
3. The Christian is aided in the process of Christian growth by the availability of prayer, Scripture, the Holy Spirit, and the fellowship of a biblically oriented church (lay persons and clergy) to achieve the nurture of the Christian life and context in both personal and social growth (improvement for God’s approval).
4. The Christian recognizes the differences between the contexts of thought (faith) and conduct (action) under God in a life so seeking to meet requirements for God’s approval, and the expectations of nature and society that require wisdom in achieving effective living contexts for natural life. As womb life contributes to natural life so natural life contributes to another life birth, identified as immortality. Life, in truth, is not contradictory, but marked by paradox caused by limited knowledge in human/spiritual context.
5. The Christian’s main duty is to relate to God in a loving relationship that is mutual. Because God needs nothing from anyone, he accepts obedience to his holy nature as return for his redemptive grace. That return calls for righteousness (right) in the individual with service to others. The Christian is to love others regardless of orientations – in the way God loves all persons. In this context God calls for the declaration of the redemptive story to all. That duty is committed to Christians so the missionary effort is to be given the primary social program of the Christian. It is to be aided by the charitable interests of Christians in meeting the needs of persons in any society. Charity for the Christian is first motivated by the command of God to serve others, and secondly in the needs of human beings in world imbalances in societies.
6. The Christian is called to affirmations of righteousness so to apply in life the common grace of God for all persons. That grace is offered, sustained in declaration and belief, and influence is extended to all. It will be rejected or accepted, but the biblical Christian, operating in the context of love, does not use negatives (anger, violence, retribution, and the like) in response to rejection. Christians offer in love and compassion that which is, under God, the better solutions to problems met with spiritual empathy/humility. Scripture makes clear that Christians are to conduct themselves as is common in the Kingdom of God.
7. The Christian perceives that values come from God. This makes life effective for those following morality. Man-made values are sometimes affirmed in this or that society as in wealth, power, honor, giftedness in mind or skills, and the like. Values may be denied or disregarded, even when they linger. The Christian attempts to gain the acceptance of biblical morality by Christian or pagan (non-Christian).

The Christian in the application of spiritual life, introduced by the redemptive forgiveness of God, is meant to find spiritual aid and personal determination to gain effective righteous life contributing to the good of self and others to the honor of God. These Pages are directed to that objective. Scripture calls upon Christians to be persons of acceptance, of penitence, of faith in God for forgiveness and aid for virtue to life.