I don’t know all the answers.
The whole reason of asking questions started from my acknowledgement that I don’t know all the answers. So because I don’t know all the answers, I learnt to see if I could know the answers. My first frame of reference was the church in which I grew up. In that environment there was little in the way of uncertainty or doubt. Despite a claim to being open to others with differing views as long as it’s biblical, reality showed a deep hostility to any effort to change the worldview they had built. The worldview was all encompassing and sufficient, any hint at something different was censored.
Growing older, however, I discovered the worldview was not sufficient. It was not complete. It was not wholly true either. Though I did not forsake the organisation in which I grew, I became more aware that I needed to broaden my horizons and consider how my life can be adjusted in the light of the truth in that.
By His grace, God has shown that just as loving and knowing Him is a plunge into the eternal. Other people from other worldviews and perspectives gave me the wider horizons I looked for. Thoughts, feelings and actions changed in the light of that. My focus remained on Christ, even as my knowledge, love and faith to Him deepened.
In the desire to establish some sort of regularity, however, I have noted how getting too familiar with life narrows its perspective. It happens slowly and subtly, but the shift is clear.
For the benefit of spiritual development, it makes sense to follow Christ to the fullness He has in store. The more I know, the more there is to learn. The more there is to learn, the more I want to learn. The depth and breadth of knowing cannot flourish among those who have their views defined in too narrow a fashion.
God would have me to know there is much more to knowing him that what a limited cultural construct can provide. The more this is embraced, the more the truth of who He is can be seen.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 