Paradoxical Heresy of Methodology

Been submitting some new questions to the Lord, again, regarding love.

With it being the greatest of all commandments, seems like focus really needs to remain there, foremost.  Especially given tendency to so readily stray to arrogance or various other self-exalting perversions of truth.

Just to meditate upon what love actually is, though, is mind-blowing. Paul was given to write a breakdown of many characteristics, easily glossed over and by-passed but they're utterly beautiful to contemplate at length. Just to think that Christ lived and died and resurrected, of love. He was given us out of love and resurrected because of love (in part). The power of God, manifested. Through love. As love. By love.

Reading through the gospels of Matthew and Mark, instances where Jesus' displays of emotion were noted, especially prominent, regard those whom He healed. He was pained, grieved at the suffering of disease and disability, at the disconnection and despair wrought of sin. And also especially pained over injustices wrought by the religious, per their lack of love. They forsook mercy, He said.

They ignored the greater things of the law.

The neglected love, as though it weren't vital.

And they became hard-hearted, callous to suffering, and insensitive to the destruction wrought and perpetuated by such indifference. Teaching truths according to their own understanding, they thus served God in their own strength--professing righteousness before all men, while standing condemned by their very own hearts before the Creator who walked among them. Even condemning Him to death.

Put another way, entirely:
Methods aren't sufficient to achieve, know, or experience salvation and life and love.

Not even methods which are "accurate" or "justifiable," in terms of recorded Scripture.

The crucifixion of Christ by the very ones who served in the Holy of Holies is a severe testament to this truth.

They, above and beyond anything we might now claim, truly possessed the Word of God. It was given to them to keep, follow, and maintain. For certain ones, such as Caiaphas...their entire lives, generation after generation, were attuned to this very purpose: to know and live by Scripture. Nonetheless, there were flagrant and ongoing perversions of "clearly recorded truths:" The Spirit of the Law was wholly neglected, in favor of blatant attempt to obey the letter of the law, comprehended according to man's understanding, as a method unto holiness based upon precise dissemination and deconstruction and exegesis and extrapolation of Scripture. Even according to various means, these things. Yet, still, unto Christ's crucifixion.

So, if the very nation which was entrusted and exalted by God as to carry His Word in the midst of the world was not able to maintain a right heart and obedience, even devoting generation after generation to such a cause as proper exegesis and application of tenets of Scripture...

...why would we think ourselves better suited to adopting this-type practice, for having traditions as "records" passed down in commentaries and biographies and the holy writings of saints which have preceded us?

It's only by grace of His direct intervention, individually and personally, that any person is saved.

So why does it seem there's a pervasive, vastly duplicitous attempt to "figure out how" to accomplish the things written in Scripture, unto obedience to God...in much of the modern church?

There's a twofold problem there.

Again, first off, the Law again and again only proves us incapable of achieving heartfelt obedience to God (it's the spirit in which a thing's done that determines obedience, not whether it gives an outward showing of correspondence to truth--and the first of all commands is to love God with our entire being, so have we done this?). Our best efforts always fall flat, if attempted in our own power. This shouldn't be a surprise at all, given the nation which is recipient of God's own covenantal promises didn't recognize Him in the flesh--in large part still refusing to acknowledge His having come as the suffering servant recorded in Isaiah 53, unto salvation of Israel and of the world.

How much less likely are we (who aren't physical descendants of Israel) to be obedient, then, when our lives are so taken up with the world's treasures? How much less likely are we to have hearts which are right before God, if worship isn't part of our very heritage?...and, even if it was, then are we  alternately falling prey to considering ourselves recipients of grace, by right, rather than as unmerited gift?

Regardless...Any way you go on that front, we're just inherently incapable of fulfilling the will of God, in ourselves, as according to our own understanding and in our own strength.

Along this line, consider what it is to study to show oneself approved.
...what do we study, as such?...and to what actual end?
...in other words...
...what are we seeking to know, by studying at all, and what is the nature of such an approval, that it could be sought or known?

Consider this: 
If we are accepted in Christ, as made acceptable in the Beloved, then what is our actual state of approval? Is it not a right standing with God, as abiding in Christ?

And how are we to abide, except in His love?...even as He said we could know that we are abiding in His love, when we are obeying Him.

What did He command, then, unto obedience?
...except, primarily, that we love one another.

Even as this still was noted as secondary to loving God--to loving Christ--with everything that we are: our mind, our heart, our strength of will, our actions. We are to be consumed by love for Him--enflamed by it, truly.

Love which is insincere isn't viable, as incomplete or empty on any of a number of levels--whether emotionally void (from apathy unto despair), mentally uncommitted (from apathy unto resentment), physically incapable of maintaining act of devotion (from apathy unto incapacitation). Attempts at love which aren't sincere ultimately degrade, revealing inherent lack--giving light to the innate inconsistencies which prevented maintenance of the lie, hypocrisy is revealed. Even as with the Sadducees and Pharisees.

In other words, the world's by-line of "fake it till you make it" has repeatedly and continually been proven false and hollow, in terms of love. The first century Sanhedrin and Pharisees had the same Old Testament Scriptures we do, and there's command there to love God, but they apparently believed they were complying. They believed themselves right before God, after all.

But insincere love isn't love. So you can't "fake it till you make it," on that count. No matter what angle you approach from, it has to be a work of God to enliven a heart which has become insensate to love and emotion.

Otherwise, there's always a disconnect on some level, given inherent inconsistency of attempted expression. That disconnect creates discord, and dysfunction proliferates.

And this goes on (Romans 1, especially, gives an overview of the process of delusion unto hard-heartedness) until a point comes where the heart is fairly incapable of emotion. Empty of love and affection, as increasingly filled with fascination over destructive and vindictive pastimes (while no longer sensible of this being the case of such matters, for having become numbed).

So, there's that. Meaning...pursuing obedience for the sake of obedience (without love being the inspiration) leads to delusion, as lack of love proliferates: Self-exaltation ultimately results, if even silently, as works become a justification in their own right.

And alternately (and oft concurrently), there's a manner of assuming that just because a thing seems reasonable, it's right. Such that reading and seeing in Scripture the commands to obey, to study, to live in a way which is worthy of the calling unto Christ...come to seem, to the natural mind, implicitly decrees that we must be capable of doing these things in our own strength, according to our own means, and in ways which would be deduced by our own reasonings...or otherwise, why would we be commanded to do them? Seems reasonable, doesn't it?

But that reasoning deviates from the whole of the Spirit of Scripture's message, from its very outset to its summation, as (for one) blatantly ignoring the fact that we weren't even created to depend upon our own understanding of right and wrong: We weren't intended to be self-sufficient, in terms of right living and right doing.

God didn't originally create us as judge. He didn't exalt us in His own place.

Sin attempted to do that, and still attempts to purport that as the case:
The carnal mind, which is enmity against God, attempts to maintain that we must know and act upon the difference between good and evil, as the proper, reasonable, and right expectations of ourselves.

Forsaking that path means forsaking self, moreover, but in favor of submitting to God.
Nothing in the flesh wants to do that, although it's what we're called to do by Christ, unto salvation.

So, if we are study, then, what or how do we study?

Do we study so as to esteem ourselves in the estimation of man?
...if our knowledge is complete vanity in comparison to the wisdom of God, then studying won't esteem us in His estimation. And all else is pointless.

And, furthermore...reaching a point of believing ourselves knowledgeable actually evidences a spirit of arrogance, become exalted against God's supremely higher knowledge. So, what does it avail us to gain knowledge?

Except, perhaps, only to study...as unto God. Or, otherwise, exalting self against Him.

Perhaps, then, we might only study as to know Him more intimately, to understand Him broadly--by any and all means He provides and permits, unto Himself.
And perhaps we might study, also, as to serve Him by being all the more filled with love for others, as attaining unto various reaches of knowledge might be used by God to shape our hearts into forms more fitted to deeper compassion for those whose lives have thence become more clearly seen and appreciated per such applied pursuits unto understanding.

Study is not a way in and of itself, is the thing--study is only another means of drawing nearer to God.
Christ is the only way, unto God. He is the only means in and through and by whom we can have approval before God.

Just as drawing nearer to Him results in becoming conformed more completely into His image, as made acceptable in Him and by Him: From image to image of Him, we are transformed from glory to glory, praise be unto God.

We're not to exalt ourselves, though, yet knowledge has a tendency to puff up when it's attained unto and pursued according to the ways of the world (as a means and a way unto understanding and right methodology, in itself). God, Himself, has to keep us humble along such a trek, even as our only hope is always in Him.

As unto Him we draw near, by grace, there we are further delivered and conformed by and in and unto and so to love.

He's what we seek, though:
Not a method. Not a means. Not a manner of right living.
No matter how much the world despises such a claim, that's the only true one, the only worth maintaining and pursuing. Christ came that we might have the very life of God, in ourselves restored. He came to put to death the deeds of the flesh and of the world, to lay sin to rest in each of those who draw near to Him, coming to know Him more completely and seeking to walk ever more closely with Him, filled with the fullness of who He is, even as to share the mind of Christ, Himself.

Scripture isn't a piecemeal offering that we can tear apart and reassemble according to what our predilections for living might be. It's a record of who God is and it's a living Word unto those who would know Him, those who desire to know truth.

He wants to be known by us, or He would not have come. He created us. And loves us.

We can trust Him to help us, to change our hearts, to fill us with love and lead us in how to love. We are not capable of doing the things we are to do, according to our own understanding nor in our own strength. We were not created to be self-sufficient in these ways.

Merely, our proclivity for sin and for thinking according to the ways the world believes makes it seem to be the case that we ought to be able to do the things, to live right, to know how to please God and serve Him, in our own strength, according to our own understanding. But when and as we would ever seek to act in our own strength rather than submit to God for direction and empowerment to act, we turn away from Him. He must do the work in and through each of us, or it won't be done according to His will. Jesus even said that the things He did, the judgments He made, were not of Himself. How much more do we need God's explicit, innate and living guidance, as by His Spirit living within each of us?

Remember, Nicodemus despaired of what Jesus said was required for salvation.

And if we truly understood what it meant to be saved and to walk in a manner that's pleasing to Him, we should despair, too: It's right that we despair of ourselves, as a good part of the gospel is that there's no hope in us, but that there is hope in Christ, and this...as His Holy Spirit will come to us, dwell in us, doing works of God in and through us.

Each one of us must turn to God for help, for direction, for guidance. Otherwise, we're totally lost. Period. But He doesn't turn away anyone who truly seeks Him, and we are told to seek and continue seeking. Not merely "five minutes here," every couple days, but a constant endeavor. Unceasing. Lifelong. And eternal.

Living forces of evil do attempt to keep us from seeking Him (within and around us), so we must press on all the more.

Because eternity is about knowing Him, experiencing His Presence, and not about knowing of Him. Relationships, as this is, are by nature interpersonal. And they're not form-fitted: Love is love, and yet each is so distinct as may experience manifestations and development differently. This, while knowing that what is of God, will accord with and conform to descriptions explicitly detailed especially in what constitutes our New Testament. We're told to always test our experiences (as even against Scripture). On the whole. Constantly. Even every thought.

We can't stop the search nor the longing after Christ, though, because stakes are high--our very souls depend upon Him. And there are even such entities as despise God and would incessantly badger us or even entreat us beguilingly (unto straying from truth, step by step, gradually indiscernible except to those who stay in Christ and mindful)...they would do so just to spite Him. And just to shame us, and to spite us. Without it necessarily even ever becoming personal, but only a matter of open-ended spite.

But those who know Christ and who strive to always rest in His, living in His Presence...we have a Spirit of love, of power, and of a sound mind even as to discern truth. As we are guided into all truth--each to each, and yet as unto God...wisdom being justified in each of her children.

Scripture is not to be taken piecemeal and applied as according to pragmatic considerations, then. It's not to be relied upon in one's own understanding, exclusive guidance of the Holy Spirit.

This, as we're not to test God, not even by relying upon the Words of Scripture apart from His active guidance and empowerment unto obedience of what's recorded. Otherwise, we succumb to the temptation to rest in our own abilities to understand and act according to our conceptions of "righteousness" and "faith." Faith is of Christ, or it's not faith in God. Living faith rests in Him, and not in writing...even as the Scriptures are faithful sayings, they are so as given by a living God who stands by His Word as it's honored. As He is discerned, as His will is sought. Foremost. As He is loved...which is the highest grace, as to know.

As goes faith, we're not capable of trusting what we don't know, otherwise we're effectively only trusting in ideas about what we think a thing is or might be..but not trusting the person or thing, itself. This is a fine point of distinction, but it's vital as trust is strongest when there's an ongoing, unbroken, interactive relationship between the one trusting and the one being trusted: The more familiar you are with someone and their ways (given they are trustworthy), the more you can trust and/or love them.

Those aren't states of being which exist in disconnect from the people and things which they actually exist only in relation to...trust and love are only as viable and secure as is the actual, working knowledge of their recipient objects/persons.

And faith is a type of trust--it's active belief, for having been convinced of the truthfulness, trustworthiness, reliability of a person or thing. Even as so-called "Good faith" agreements exist between those who have a reasonable expectation that their expectations are justifiable that the agreement with be upheld...such agreements won't be legitimately made in situations where someone is reasonably uncertain of the viability of parties entering agreement.

Faith requires reason. It doesn't exist in a vacuum. The stronger a relationship between the one in whom faith is placed and the one who has faith, the stronger the faith will be.

Like as, if your family has always been very loving and supportive, you will very likely have a great deal of faith in their willingness and ability to be there for you, when you endure difficulties. Just as, if the opposite is true of your family, you would likewise take it on faith that they would be unwilling and incapable of providing emotional or material support when you encounter hardship. Either way, your faith is according to being convinced by what you know of the situation, according to evidence, according to reasoned assessment which proceeds from actual experience.

So, if Christ is faithful to save us, to bring us into salvation...given that He took on flesh, walked among us, and died to redeem us...

...resurrecting, even as proof of His Godhood and of the acceptability of His work...

...why do we still hang on to this idea that we have to manage our own sanctification, our own keeping from error?

Why are we still so very reluctant to trust Him, to seek Him, and to put our faith in Him fully?

Why do we still remain convinced that the world has it right--that we have to protect ourselves, that we are our own saviors, and that we are capable of discerning what is right and what is wrong in our own strength according to our own understanding?

He's the Good Shepherd. We're the sheep.
That's a pretty distinctive and descriptive relationship.
He leads. He protects. He saves. He guides and teaches.

Otherwise, we would only ever wander and stray and be in error and be lost and be deceived (even by our own thoughts).

Just as we were all once living totally in error, then did we deliver ourselves?
If we think we did, then we're still deceived. And, otherwise, we know we didn't deliver ourselves.

So,why would we think that--having been incapable of ever delivering ourselves--we should now be capable of keeping ourselves from error and further discerning what's right and good, according to our own (increasingly known as flawed, if only as being wholly shortsighted) understanding?

Draw near to Him. Talk to Jesus about these things.
He'll teach You.

There's no other way, is the thing:
No matter what your manner of understanding these things, it's the same principle still:
He teaches, or we're not taught.
He reveals Himself, or we can't know Him.
He saves us, or otherwise we have no salvation.

It's all Him. It's not about us and our abilities.
It's about Him.

So, go to Him. And don't cease to harass/pester/question/talk to Him until You know Him.
And all the while, test everything you think and know and experience against what's written in Scripture. Not merely against the words, but against the Spirit in which the entire text was written.

Don't stop these things.
There's no reason to stop.
There's no greater joy.

And this is what eternity will be, only without the suffering.
All the better to reap of what joys are available in Him, now, as He permits.

And, yet, either it will all be completed of and by Him, or it will be nothing at all.