Week 7—Friday 1 Thessalonians 5:17-21
1 Thessalonians 5:17-21
THE TWO APPROACHES—THE CHRISTIAN
AND THE SCIENTIFIC
Since we have pursued the fact that God created the world through Christ, we are now ready to raise a very big question in religion. The question is based on the fact that there are two great approaches to life: the Christian and the scientific.
The Christian approach works from Revelation down, and the scientific works from the facts up to conclusions. The big question is this: Are these two approaches bringing us out to two conclusions about life, or one? If you work from Revelation down and from the facts up, do you find life coming out at the feet of Christ? Is life rendering a Christian verdict whichever way you approach it—from Revelation down or from the facts up? Are the God of grace and the God of nature two Gods—or one? These are the biggest questions we can ask about our faith and about our world.
We as Christians do not apologize for working from Revelation down. We glory in it. When we speak of Revelation, we mean the life and character of Jesus. We do not believe that the Bible is the Revelation—that would be the Word became printer’s ink. But we do believe that the Bible is the inspired record of the Revelation, the Revelation was seen in the face of Jesus Christ—the Word became flesh. We have a starting point for all our thinking and acting. That starting point is a Person. In him we see what God is like, and we see what we can be like. And, further, we see what life is like. He is our viewpoint. We view all life from the standpoint of him. And when we do so, and, thus, have the single eye, the whole body is full of light. There is no situation in which he is not Light, and there is no situation in which his absence does not produce darkness. Dr. Huh Shih, the Chinese philosopher, once said to me: “You Christians have a decided advantage in that all your ideas have been embodied in a Person.” Yes, not only a decided advantage, but a decisive advantage. In all the others the ideas are the Word become word. Only in Jesus has the Word become flesh. We begin with him.
O Jesus, Savior and Lord, you are our Alpha and our Omega—our Beginning and our End. We do not know what the end will be, but the beginning is good. For we feel that the last word will be with you. For you are the Christ of the Beginning and the Christ of the Final Word. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I shall not be afraid of the facts—they will lead me to his feet.