In ancient mythology, Ulysses needed to navigate the passageway between Italy and Sicily, the strait guarded by two deadly, intimidating threats — Scylla and Charybdis. On the one side lay rocky shoals — certain to rip the hull out of one’s ship. These rocks were guarded by a terrible, six-headed dragon determined to eat anyone alive who wandered within its reach. On the other side lay a vicious whirlpool from which a ship would never escape. You can sense the immense risk of danger to the ship in this picture.
In the Kingdom of Heaven, we need to navigate between two similar dangers. One is presumptuous faith, which expects to bring nothing to the altar, simply waiting on the Lord to provide. Folks holding this belief need to consider James’ admonition: “Faith without works is dead.” James 2:26
The other dangerous belief is performance-orientation which relies on man’s productive capability to earn points on a heavenly scorecard. People in this group should consider Jesus’ reply to Phillip: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father…the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” John 14:10 The Son of God is telling Phillip that He waits to hear from His Father before taking action. In fact, He despises anyone displaying iniquity – a self-willed approach to spiritual activity.
How does one navigate this narrow passageway of Kingdom life, avoiding presumption and willfulness? Preliminary answers are found in John 5:19 (the Son of Man does nothing of His own accord), Matthew 7:21 (many will come in that day…), Matthew 13:8 (30, 60, 100x return), the Feeding the 5,000 parable, Matthew 5:3 (blessed are the poor in spirit) and other great passages. Start your own research and document your insights, for God has said: “You will find Me if you search for Me with your whole heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
Share
Explore Other Topics
A dime has two sides: heads and tails. Regardless of which side faces up, you can tell you are holding a dime. The coin is inherently worth 10 cents even if you can’t see the side that is facing down. Simply by looking at one side you can describe the
During His ministry, many witnesses attested to Christ’s compassionate works and selfless motives. Despite several attempts to build a fictitious case against Him, the religious authorities could not succeed. Being guiltless, Jesus never displayed a defensive attitude nor evidence of His innocence. Only when asked a direct question did He
After leading the Israelites out of Egypt, the Lord miraculously parted the Red Sea. Shortly afterward, He provided detailed plans to Moses regarding the structure of a remarkable, new theocratic government. The Lord Himself would serve as the King over His chosen people. The Lord later appointed prophets and judges
Jesus opened His first recorded public address with these words: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 5:3 In the original Aramaic language, the word “poor” carries the strongest possible meaning, describing an abject, penniless poverty. Think of the most disenfranchised refugee, living
Jesus did us a big favor. He declared heaven’s highest priority in this single sentence. It’s a compelling idea, buried in His inaugural sermon. The mysterious language seems lofty and dreamy – one of those grand, lovable passages of Scripture where everyone nods and quietly says, “Amen!” On the surface,
As you continue to explore your identity as a spiritual father, be willing to press deeper, to the true, biblical meaning of the term. We can colloquially say you are “fathering” certain individuals, but be willing to challenge yourself: is it really fathering, or perhaps discipling, or maybe just training?
