Expanded Realization of God

Fred Smith expresses four truths that have expanded his realization of God

By Fred Smith

There is a distinct dilemma in expanding the horizons of my realization of what life in Christ means. It is like thinking of the relationship between man and the vastness of space. On one side I feel always smaller as the realization of my Christian identity increases. It never makes me feel bigger but always smaller, and we live in a society that resists anything that makes us feel smaller for we are constantly trying to get bigger. However, an interesting thing happens: as I feel smaller, I feel more a part of the Universe. I fit in better. And on the other hand, as I increase my realization I also increase my ignorance and so the focus moves from knowledge to ignorance for on the periphery of expanded knowledge is always increased ignorance. Yet it's this ignorance that gives me my excitement, expectation. It is not reviewing what I know but learning what 1 don't know that makes life exciting.

  1. I am a living soul - this 220 lbs of solid blubber is the smallest part of me. It is the part you see but it is the most insignificant part, for I am a living soul. One of the most important people in my life was an illiterate woman who worked in a cotton mill for $2.50 a week and lived in a little row house. Her name was Mrs. Carter. Shortly before she died she said, "Fred, pretty soon you'll hear that Mrs. Carter is dead. Don't believe it. I'll be more alive then I've ever been in all my life." I believe that. This living soul of hers and mine will live eternally. "and so shall we ever be" - this is too big for me to comprehend but it is the first consideration of my Christian identity.

 2. I am a child of God — more than a servant, more than a representative, not merely a creature of God, but through new birth a child of God. This man Jesus whom everyone knows about, who has affected all human history for two thousand years, he is my brother. Does that surprise you? You didn't know my brother? I'm a member of the family. . .the original family!

 3. My body is the temple of the spirit - "Christ in you, the hope of glory" - this is the story of Pentecost. This is what they waited for. . .that they might contain the spirit. The spirit is resident, not consultant or visitor, but constant resident. The spirit is the enabler who lets me say "I can get divine help." The spirit's filling means I can be fulfilled, I can overcome temptation, for no temptation comes my way that doesn't also bring at least one escape hatch if I want to use it. The spirit makes it possible for me to carry on a conversation with God, which we call prayer. It lets me verify truth by the "witness of the spirit."

4. I am a witness - hear it again: I am a witness. So often in the church today we think about saying a witness, making a verbal expression, but, like it or not, when I am a Christian I am a witness—poor, good, effective, ineffective.. I can wish I were not a witness or even try not to be a witness. I can keep from being a good witness. I can be a bad witness. But I am a witness. Just like JoyLynn Reed, Ph.D. says, "you cannot not communicate." You cannot not be a witness if you are His. I am a witness by what I am becoming, not by who I have been or only by who I am, but what I am becoming. What are you becoming?

Getting my arms around these concepts: 1) I am a living soul, 2) I am a child of God, 3) my body is the Spirit's temple and 4) I am a witness requires that I embrace my ignorance. I wake up excited to think on these things and dive deeper and deeper into the mysteries of God.