V. TULIPS' meaning After Salvation
...the surpassing riches of His Superior Power..in the Beloved (cf. Eph1:19, Eph 3:15-19)

1. What's the best "benefit" of the post-salvation life, on earth? KNOWING GOD. Of all the ways the benefits can be classified, of all the ways folks talk about the particulars, KNOWING GOD is the sine qua non of the spiritual life. Lots of folks think you can't know God. The Bible says that's not true: "..and to come to know the love for Christ, which goes beyond [academic] knowledge" is somewhere in Eph. 3. Also, in Phillipians 1:21, it says "Living, Christ! Dying, profit!" (corr. trans: there are no verbs, to stress Paul's excitement.) The principal purpose of the Bible is to enable you to KNOW God. The more you learn about God (three Persons, actually, are depicted in Scripture, Christ being Central) -- the more you will come to love God. This knowledge is solely furnished by God, as you saw in the "I" part of TULIPS. Because we are totally depraved, this love can only be LEARNED -- through the study of Bible Doctrine. It is NOT emotion, though you'll have plenty of emotion alongside. It makes all the difference in life. No problem matters much, once you've learned enough about Him. Your ability to be tempted decreases, especially in the petty things of life, which are really the BIGGER test ("big" things look big, so motivate interest-in-God more easily). You're just not so interested anymore. You see everything differently. Inwardly you come to think more like Christ, "disregarding the shame" of temptation. (Heb 12:2's "despise" really means to "disregard".) Think of romance, how happy people are when they are in love, and you get a small idea of what KNOWING God is like. It is way beyond emotion, and isn't even based on emotion (none of the spiritual life is based on how you feel, but is rather based on Who you know). When one is in love, the object of love is HIGH in the soul, and all else is much, much lower. So what used to be upsetting or besetting "loses its power", so to speak. All of the other benefits are indeed massive, but this one -- above all -- is beyond compare. Herein we see the full genius of God. The entire reason for the Bible, for the spiritual life, is to do what HE WANTS TO SEE: learn His Son! Learning His Son is the sublime life, better than all wealth, all fame, all this world has to offer. So great is this benefit, that as the Christian grows, he will come to yearn to suffer for Christ: Phillipians 1:20-21, 3:8-10, especially verse 10: "that I may know Him, and the Power of His Resurrection, and may share in His Sufferings, becoming like Him in His Death" (RSV, here).

2. What is the Post-Salvation life about? Works? No. It is about learning Him, without which, the FIRST Commandment is not executed: "but grow in grace and in the knowledge of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ " (2Pet3:18). You can't "love the Lord Your God with all your heart and soul and mind" if you don't even know Him... "Works" is tangential to the spiritual life. It is a part of it, in the sense that we are not to be immoral, etc., but it is very secondary. Folks don't understand this. Maybe the following explanation will help. We are Royal Family of God, because we are part of the Bride of Christ, and He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Bright Morning Star in His Humanity. (See Hebrews 1 on His Title, here. You can do a verse-search on the "Bride" term to find all of those refs. Also, look at 1Pet 2 or 1 :5, 9 on "priesthood" verses. Many other passages on "priest" also, describing us as Royal, especially, in Hebrews, abound.) As you probably know in human affairs, being Royal is no small duty. It takes -- and should! -- a lifetime of TRAINING for the rigors of rulership. Our life here is just a drop in the bucket compared to eternity, where we will be -- as Bride -- co-rulers! with Him. So, we must be TRAINED. No Royal is allowed, ideally, to do anything before he is sufficiently trained. God, who gives us free will, sets up the training program and totally runs it -- but, will allow us to reject the program, with of course the attendant disciplinary results, when we do! We have an awesome role in this world, but to actually realize its benefits personally, we must first become trained "by means of the Spirit and by means of doctrine". (John 4:24; See also John 14, Eph 3, Romans 12 and 15, the Petrine epistles, for some idea of what these things mean -- oh -- and 1 John.) Now -- would you want a doctor to work on you before he is sufficiently trained? NO! Does God want you running around doing a bunch of works you might not yet know how to do? No! Much of what passes for Christianity today is a bunch of untrained babies running around. They look like it, too. And Christianity is maligned as a result. Of all the confusions in Christendom, this bolixing-up over "works" is the biggest. Baby Christians think that, as soon as they are reborn, they must hustle for God, and folks who should know better TEACH that same false idea. How is it false? Well, what works can a baby do? He can drool, and ...soil his diapers. What work can a seedling do? doesn't it have to first grow into a full tree before it can bear fruit? Yet Christians all over the world are running around, babyishly doing works, thinking they are helping God, living the spiritual life. But God says, "grow ...in knowledge" 2Pet3:18. The writer of Hebrews admonishes his readers in the middle of Chapter 5 for becoming babies again; these readers had reverted to Judaic practices, works; which the writer of Hebrews condemned in the strongest possible terms, "crucifying the Son of God afresh". See, you have to become COMPETENT first. And for that, you need training. Would you think it rational to tell a baby to cut out an appendix? Of course not. Would you expect a retarded person to calculate the physical properties needed for a nuclear reactor? Of course not. "Works" aren't acceptable without training. Sloppy thinking leads to sloppy works...actually, to harm. Christians who run around condemning others' sins out of "love", seizing on the "rebuke" Scriptures, are dishonoring the Gospel. "You did not so learn Christ!" It says in Eph 4:20. See, one needs training in order to "teach" anyone anything. The same need for training applies to works like giving, working around a church, etc. Giving is especially misunderstood. Governments give money to the poor, but don't first realize that unless the poor are first trained in the use of money, that money will not help them. For example, in one place, new housing was made for the poor; brand-new townhomes. The poor were moved into them. But the places burnt down..why? Because the poor didn't know how to use the washer/dryer, and instead turned on the gas stove, with the clothes nailed into the cabinetry, above the gas flames, in order to dry the hand-washed items! God's Government does not work like that: as babies, we are poor in knowledge, poor in coordination, poor in movement. So don't worry, God doesn't want you working before He has trained you to become competent, lest you burn the spiritual "house", or the Gospel... Giving a gift requires a lot of knowledge about the gift's appropriateness. Too much, too little, too soon, too late...these are some of the variables. The Lord did NOT feed everyone, did NOT heal everyone, when He was here. When criticized for allowing the ointment to be put on Him, rather than sold to give to the poor, what did He say? "The poor you will have with you always." (John12:8). So there is a right way, a wrong way, a right amount, a wrong amount, a right time, and a wrong time, to give. Do you want your gift wasted? Of course not. So, why not wait until you know GOD has trained you? Why not wait until you know what HE wants you to do? Further, much of what Christians call their "works" in God's Name have been sheer evil: look at the Crusades, the Inquisition, the religious wars of yesteryear and today. Ask this question: is the work really to "help" God, or to help one's own ego, or conscience? Is it really about God, or you? "These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me". Pharisees, scribes, hypocrites; the man who put in the talents, to be seen-of-men; the long fastings, long public prayers...you know these verses. God doesn't need our help. God wants to see His Son's thinking in us -- God is your first "work" -- to develop a compatible thinking pattern with His, which He grants through the Holy Spirit. Sure, the meanwhile, you're supposed to be moral, etc., and you use 1Jn1:9 every time you sin, lest you become stunted in your ability to learn doctrine. But all of this is just adjunctive! You are called to even HIGHER purpose! God will use you while you learn -- count on it! He will train you; as you grow, He'll give you chores, as it were: works to help you relieve the growing outlet you'll need for "doing great things for God". He will show you what works you will eventually need to do, so your training can become more specific, in preparation. Think of Moses, Christ, Paul -- they all went through EXTENSIVE isolation and training periods before they did even ONE "work"! Moses, 40 years; Christ, maybe 30 years; Paul --by some estimates -- 14 years, at least. Note the pattern, here -- don't be distracted by the fact that they all ended up being in public ministry. Each of us has a purpose, designed by the Father, to glorify His Son. It is a Royal Purpose, a RICH purpose. Don't go by what your eyes see... Further -- GOD is your first Audience, as He always hears you! Think that over carefully..when you are brushing your teeth, He hears your thoughts. What are they? Do those thoughts please Him? See why using 1Jn1:9 constantly is so important? You want to do works? What about the "works" of your thinking, before God? Who, 24 hours a day, hears you? Is God not a more important Person than any human? His Infinite Pleasure or Displeasure, what is that worth to you? What "work value" might His Infinite Pleasure have? Will the Lord say to you at the Judgement Seat, "Gee, it was okay you ran around doing works, though you didn't even BOTHER to learn Me, so your thoughts would please My Father"? BEWARE ignoring the First Commandment. Ask yourself, would you turn stones into bread (Matt4:3-4, Deut8:3ff), or would you live on the Word? And Who hears which you are doing? Are you giving in to the hunger to "do something", tired of the "fasting" of learning, or do you prefer living on the Word? As it says in Hebrews 10:31, "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God". Hopefully by this point it becomes clearer that one's thought life before the Lord is the FAR bigger "work". Any externals which God graciously trains you to do are but recreation, release; that those who mistake human works for "the" spiritual life are guilty of the verse, "having a form of godliness, but denying its power." (2Tim3:5; eusebeia, translated "godliness", means the spiritual life..I forget the name of the German scholar who proved that, and will put his name in here when I find my notes.) Total Depravity means we are constantly bombarded by the need to "do something" meritorious; the old sin nature we genetically inherited from Adam, plus the accumulated effects of our own sins, make this urge to "do" unbearable. So we are all guilty of "having a form of godliness.." but we also have the Holy Spirit to set us aright, via 1Jn1:9 and getting-doctrine under His Teaching Ministry via our right pastors. God the Holy Spirit will help you see that visible "works" is NOT but an adjunctive and minor feature in the spiritual life. Keep plugging, keep using 1Jn1:9, keep studying. John 14 has the promise of His Help -- and Romans 5:5ff shows that promise (esp. when tied to Romans 8), that "Hope" will be fulfilled: "Hope never disappoints"!

3. So how do I use TULIPS to understand the Post-Salvation life? TULIPS forms the basis for your understanding the post-salvation life. God is Perfect, therefore consistent. For example, "T" means your body remains totally depraved, and you have a knowledge deficit -- which, now that you are saved, is willed by Sovereignty to be filled up, using the "I" provision (which, remember, is NOT dependent on human IQ, to give you the Grace of learning apparati and time, via the Holy Spirit and 1Jn1:9 (to get back on-line with Him). "U" and "L", being the basis of your salvation, are also the basis of your post-salvation understanding that you can do no works to please God -- only learning Bible Doctrine. Any "works" which naturally result from Doctrine circulating in your soul will naturally please Him -- nothing else. Thus, you gradually learn to avoid all the many wasteful activities baby Christians get themselves into "in God's name". "P" is gradually conveyed to you, beginning down here: you have total logistical support, even when God disciplines you (and He does to all of us, strenuously!) -- sometimes, for example, you will just barely get by, with some nick-of-time provision -- at other times, you'll have more "wealth" than you know what to do with. "P" means that nothing in your life is accidental: it is all designed to support and train you in His Thinking. "S" means that Christ is SUPREME. The reason for all this life, the reason for such training in His Thinking. His Thinking is the Alpha and Omega of life. All else just tags along: Phillipians 3:8. So, in this very brief description, you can begin to "grasp the idea" as Eph 3 puts it.. Despite "T", you can learn Him; "U" and "L" mean you don't have to get caught up in meaningless works, since your "job" is to train in His Thinking, which "I" enables; and "P" assures you'll get the necessary support and circumstances to use that training, Plus enough time on earth -- all of this being willed by "S" so that you can grow into maximum rapport with God -- "to know Him and the Power of His Resurrection", as Paul puts it in Phillipians 2. Such learning makes you grow to spiritual maturity, the very goal in view in Eph 3 and 4 (see also Philip. 3, Rom 15, for hints on this...and search on "teilei"/"tetl" root in Greek texts, since that is the root for "mature, finished, complete"). So, even BRUSHING TEETH is used to please Him (thinking, not doing, is what makes for "pleasing"). In short, your "dull" life might just be more pleasing to God than all those seemingly-better "works" by baby Christians! Since learning, not "earning" is what counts, ("earning" being what is left when the "L" for "Lord" is missing), you will be rewarded by what the Holy Spirit does to make you grow. How to know this: Royalty has a hierarchy, in both time and eternity -- analogous to earthly royalty's structure. There are many verses on the rewards. Search on: "crowns", "reward" "inheritance", "robe", "prize", and synonyms of these words -- also, look up how in Paul's day athletic contests and military triumphs were rewarded -- with MASSIVE amounts of wealth -- by the state. This will give you some clue that the point here is biblically valid.

4. How does this Thinking work? Each pastor "packages" the answer to this question differently, to suit the particular "flock" God has given him. So, please read what follows only in the most general sense, as my way of phrasing the answer necessarily reflects my pastor's "packaging". You know that the Bible has many verses. You also know that these verses are on many topics. If you were to organize the Bible topically, it would be impossible, because each verse ties to every other verse (this is a hallmark characteristic of the Bible's being Divine, infallible). "The Word of God is alive and powerful", as Hebrews 4:12 puts it, so the verses are dynamic, living, in context, thoughts-of-God, etc. The idea is for you to come to have this same kind of thinking going on in your own soul. God is "pleased" to hear such thoughts, which makes sense -- we are also pleased when others think like we do! It means there is rapport. Any given thought is on at least one topic. Question is, will the thought, will the topic, be compatible with His Thoughts, His View? For this compatibility to exist, you have to come to understand the Bible topically, correctly, and in context. Thus, you learn to think categorically with respect to any given circumstance in your life. Each circumstance is a topic, and has topics related to it. So, you will have thoughts related to the "topic" of your circumstance. Question is, what Bible Doctrines relate? Can you think them? Do you prefer to think them rather than thinking something which God would not "like"? If you are thinking them, how well? How often? How fluently? NOTE: the circumstance itself isn't the issue -- your thinking is the issue. It's a structure, this thinking..the structure of Bible doctrine, so applies equally well in all circumstances. The same thinking which is Divinely His, applied to a small thing, works just as well when applied to a BIG thing. God will use the small things to develop His Thinking in you..and then give you "big" circumstances, to show how "big" is no big deal, compared to the Superiority of His Thinking. Now -- the categories of thinking which often come into play are problem-solving categories. My pastor "packages" the relevant doctrines which can be brought to bear so that one solves problems (i.e., temptations are bypassed or overcome). So far, he has packaged these into 10 INTERLOCKING classifications. Some of them are semi-static (a state of mind which gradually comes to be in your thinking at all times), and some of them are particulate (sorta like actions). The skill to develop, is to have ALL 10 'circulating' in COORDINATION in your thinking at all times. [If you are interested in learning more, the name of my pastor's series on this topic is #376, "92 Spiritual Dynamics", '92 being the year started. It ended in 2003, so is very long. Full details and supporting verses on these 10 categories are in this 2000+ lesson hours' series. GO THROUGH IT SEQUENTIALLY, if you'll do it at all. You'll find a link to my pastor's site in Part VI of this "Tulips?" webseries.] As you read what follows, notice how the last 5 (#6-10) form a kind of big-picture "executive" which not only massively upgrade your motivation and enjoyment, but also COMPETENTLY RUN the first five. Because, in the last five you INTEGRATE YOUR THINKING WITH GOD. Until then, it's just so many 'pieces' of doctrinal data which you largely use ad hoc, spiritually. No Christian ever serves God competently until he is at or above #6, so don't feel bad if you find yourself blundering. It takes a LONG TIME using 1Jn1:9 and staying under your right pastor to even get to #6 (most Christians NEVER do), but the life exponentially notches up from there. [Much more detail on this process and the underlying spiritual-life structure is in LordvSatan3.htm. You may need to go through ~1 and ~2 before ~3 will make sense.] FAST GROWTH KEY ==> Spend the most time learning what Bible says about God's Nature and PONDER about How He is. Ask Him, talk with Him (aka "prayer") about how He is. Your spiritual life will skyrocket if you make this a daily habit, so long as you do it because you are INTERESTED. (Interest naturally fluctuates. When you are in a less-interested frame-of-mind, pick an aspect of God you are MORE interested in, and play with that.) If you fake it, or do it from guilt, or like some religious duty, then it's like LYING, and nothing good will come of it. For, it's that stupid Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil from which fakery and religion all sprang. (Religion is man having the colossal gall to think he can earn/get credit/count with God based on what man does. Such arrogance is usually NOT recognized as such, because it is the same kind as Satan has, and was the essence of the temptation to Adam and the woman in the Garden. LordvSatan2.htm has much more information on this topic.) Habitual problems despite doctrinal thinking means some layer/aspect within these 10 categories is OUT OF KILTER/STEP with the rest. These thinking categories are meant to be coordinated, aligned. Spiritual glitches occur (so temptation becomes sin often or easily) due to lack of development, coordination, alignment: for the ENTIRE LIFE IS ABOUT INTEGRATION WITH GOD. For example, all life to me is boring apart from this thinking, now: as wonderful as things and people can be, they can't even begin to compare with the sheer Beauty of 'seeing' His Thinking. So if I forget that the Cross is essentially a 'making love' to WEAKNESS (God CHOSE weakness: Phili2:5-10), then my attitude toward life (#8, below) is NOT IN STEP with His Attitude on the Cross, even though I am LOOKING RIGHT AT HIM (so to speak) in my Spirit-filled mind (Bible is Thinking of Christ, so you come to 'see' Him, the more you know Doctrine). But oh, when I remember! Heaven. No emotion is anything like this peace. Hell becomes heaven, here. Ok, let's start at the beginning: here's my pastor's packaging of the 10 categories, in gist. Then, I'll go through two mundane (yet NOT!) examples of how they play. The categories are: Naming a known sin: use of 1Jn1:9. This is particulate, occurring when you're aware you have sinned. As a result, you are back on-line with the Holy Spirit, you are again able to truly learn Scripture accurately, and doctrine is circulating in your soul (else, only the semblance of learning/circulation is going on). NOTICE THE PROBLEM SOLVED: being offline with God, estranged from Him. Being Filled with the Holy Spirit. This is a static, unfelt condition, which is the status, when you are NOT carnal, of being on-line with the Holy Spirit, so you can think Doctrine and learn it. It only is available via #1, above. The second you are saved, you are (among other assets), Filled. The second you sin, whether you know it or not, you are carnal. #1 restores you to a Filled status. This is true whether you are a baby Christian, or an adult Christian, or a mature Christian -- or anywhere in between. Spirituality is a status, is absolute, not relative (spiritual growth depends on being in a repeated status of spirituality). In short, #1 is a license to grow spiritually, via #2's status -- NOT a "license to sin", as some baby Christians mistakenly think! NOTICE THE PROBLEM SOLVED: being stuck with mere, puny, human thinking-power. Faith-circulation. This is a big category. It includes believing promises, reasoning out promises, the actual function of believing teaching, and trusting God when you are in trouble, maligned, etc. -- rather than trying to solve the problem yourself (think of Jacob's-son-Joseph's story). So, this category is both active, e.g., some particular believing/trusting, and a a sort of stasis -- an attitude of looking-to-God. NOTICE THE PROBLEM SOLVED: reliance on self or externals (all of which are weak and disappointing). Grace thinking, which is ALWAYS AND ONLY FUELED BY FAITH-CIRCULATION: included here would be your awareness of all grace concepts and how they apply to the circumstance, to the person(s), to life. This category is particulate in that way, but also, like faith-circulation, an attitude which is manifest by a great deal of relaxation, the more you "grow" in it. NOTICE THE PROBLEM SOLVED: the tyranny of being stuck in right/wrong, tit-for-tat thinking. It doesn't matter if others make mistakes, and it doesn't matter if you do, either. What a joy, such freedom-to-fail! Doctrinal thinking: this is the cycling of truth per se. It is active. It is, for example, the comparing of various doctrines and verses quickly in the mind to reach a decision; to figure out something's nature, or role. This is going on all the time, like breathing, the more you grow. It increases in quantity, scope, and most of all, speed, comprehension! as you grow. It is like a language in which you gradually become fluent. NOTICE THE PROBLEM SOLVED: the tyranny of falsehood, of anti-grace, of i-deserve, of blaming, guilt, and the whole panoply of our Energizer-Bunny impulses, the sin nature. THIS IS THE BIGGEST AREA, and the one Christians lack the most. Due to Total Depravity, we have no 'dots' of truth, and no mechanism to connect any 'dots' we get. Doctrinal Thinking, which is Truth, not only consists of the right and true 'dots', but also forges the proper connections. Freedom from lies, at last! And the Truth is Gorgeous. So what results, when the Grace Thinking and Doctrinal Thinking team up and get coordinated, is.. What my pastor calls "A Personal Sense of Destiny": an awareness of where you are in your spiritual life, and God's will for you. This category is both active, and attitudinal. It is perspective, and an active intertwiner with all the foregoing and succeeding categories. NOTICE THE PROBLEM SOLVED: "Who am I, where am I, what should I think/do, where do I fit in with God, people, life?" You can't do any works of value until you know the 'fit'. This 'filter', as it were, sorts out your life. So, this category of Divine Thinking is not only something you habitually come to do, but it is a stage of spiritual growth: adulthood. Personal Love for God (the Godhead): this is attitudinal, like breathing. Naturally there will be many particular thoughts as well. It is a phenomenal category! Rules your life! and not emotional (emotions are way too small, for this). NOTICE THE PROBLEM SOLVED: Because you love God, you are less apt to want to sin, so temptations can't hook you as often or as deeply. This Love begins in spiritual adulthood (until "Christ is formed in you" -- which is that Personal Sense of Destiny stage, you don't even know how to love God). Romans 8:28 begins to characterize your life at this point. It, too, is a spiritual stage (a maturing of spiritual adulthood). Impersonal Love for others: as a result of Personal Love for God, you develop via Bible Doctrine's circulation a love for others irrespective of their worthiness or attractiveness. This is a static attitude (becomes such), as you grow. The closest secular concept to it is 'honor'. Again, way way above emotion. Emotion is like an ant, by comparison. NOTICE THE PROBLEM SOLVED: differences with people are overcome, because you don't NEED them to conform to your standards, in order to love them. It's "impersonal", in that sense. Loving God leads to an 'overflow' of loving people, unconditionally. So all that anger, hurt, irritation, etc., gradually fades away. Someone who really hurt you long ago -- you bear them no grudge. For, you are now obeying the Royal Law (Lev19:18, Jas2:8, and all of 1Jn). You've matured in Love for God enough -- so this is a stage, as well as an ongoing, supernaturally-natural Divine Thinking pattern. This was Christ's Thinking Pattern on the Cross, the ULTIMATE in fulfilling the Royal Law.. Happiness: this is a static attitude. Circumstances, pain, pressure, all are progressively less able to penetrate your happiness, because this Happiness is God's, and you have (by this point) been given enough doctrine to "share" in His Own Happiness (part of our legacy in Christ). You will come to recognize sharing God's Own Happiness (versus the shallow human ideas of happiness, which are all external-dependent), when: 1) you begin to habitually conclude that nothing but Him matters, anymore; 2) when you begin to realize that nothing you have, don't have, do, however trivial or painful/pressured, matters, because after all, "the Lord is my portion". NOTICE THE PROBLEM SOLVED: in short, the RELATIONSHIP with Him just plain makes you happy, and everything else is but a way to be with Him. It's a BEINGNESS, a TOGETHERNESS. Externals become progressively unable to penetrate your constant contentment. So... Mind-on-Christ: you become constantly occupied with Christ. Your thoughts are about Him personally, and as you grow the preponderance of your thinking will be related to His Person, directly, and your lifestyle will organize around Him personally. The closest analogy is like that of a husband for his wife, and vice versa. The idea is, everything is ASSOCIATED with Him, so you 'see' Him in everything. Everything which happens, whatever you are doing, 'reminds' you of Him in some way. Moreover, you seek to imbue every thought you have, every activity, with some toward-Him expression: 'Just because'. NOTICE THE PROBLEM SOLVED: your Love is Christ. EVERYTHING IS PROFIT TO YOU. However much or little pressure, pain, wealth, poverty..you name it. Phillipians 1:21 is your life: quietly, constantly, happily. You are, when habitually in this thinking pattern, spiritually-mature, and your goal is for "Christ [to become] glorified in my body." In short, "fullness". (Phillipians 1:20, corr trans., plus Eph3:19, in context.) Because, the GLORY of being a Christian -- is knowing Christ! HE IS 'HEAVEN' -- whatever else, good or bad, is heaven, too -- because knowing Him is everything. YOU YOURSELF become "gold, silver, precious stones" -- so of course every breath and act, when in the Spirit, during this stage, is likewise "gold, silver, precious stones". You, a living stone, produce even more wealth -- because His Mind is fully in you. THIS IS GOD'S GOAL FOR YOUR LIFE. Notice how the attitudinal/static categories form INTEGRITY -- your ability to hold together, be upright, despite any stormy temptations. The Christian life is a supernatural life, and demands a spiritual means of execution -- the Holy Spirit's enabling power -- this is not mere morality, but WAY beyond it -- coming to share the very Essence of God. After all, He doesn't want puny beings to be forever wedded to His Son! Happiness, Love: these are based on virtue. "Virtue" comes from the Latin word, and means, essentially, "strength". We sin because we are depraved, and the depravity is a weakness, an infirmity-of-being, even after we are saved. Learning Him corrects that infirmity: Romans 8, 12, 15, Phillipians, Ephesians 3 will help you see that process. Naturally, then, the function of these categories of thinking will "produce fruit" which "pleases" God. Right thinking comes from integrity. From right thinking, comes right action...ANY action. Naturally, then, just as any athlete enjoys his strength, enjoys using his training, so also the maturing believer will enjoy the function of these categories of thinking, in the "spiritual olympics" which is our post-salvation life! (Paul's athletic analogies to the spiritual life are olympian ones.) Now I need to go through an example...

5. Okay, what's the example? I'll try two examples, in case one isn't clear enough. As you read these examples, try to remember that the thought process here, which takes a long time to read and analyze, actually occurs in the space of a few seconds! First example: housework. Who likes it? One may rightly ask, why would God create a universe which requires housework? (Substitute anything for "housework" which you find petty, annoying, and how-could-God-like-this! as your attitudes.) Now -- God can use this to increase your spiritual growth, which "pleases" Him, and to "hear" thoughts in your mind which "please" Him! So, housework isn't so meaningless, after all! Ah -- what kind of conclusion was that? Let's cycle through the 10 categories, to see.... First, since I hate housework, I probably sinned at some second of it, so used 1Jn1:9; therefore, #2's category becomes my status quo (until I next sin); so, during that status quo, #3, trusting Him to make the housework useful to my spiritual life, is on-line, actively(!), and I relax while doing the thing I normally hate -- because, #4, God's grace applies to make good on everything! so, #5, as I do the housework, now curious to see more of how housework can be beneficial to my spiritual life, answers from #4's circulation are going (for example, I learn patience, and focus, despite wishing not to have housework). But the biggest payoff of the housework is in #6-10. First, it is God's will for my life that I do this housework, given the situation (which #5 had already proven, which is why I'm doing the housework in the first place), so I'm comfortable with my "niche" -- I know I'm where God wants me to be at the moment. Self now being wholly comforted, I look at Him: #7-10 are all on-line, at once, in my mind -- and now actually enjoy this housework, for it gives me an opportunity to think about Him as I work! I'm focusing primarily on #10 -- Him. Thinking how He was here, He did a lot of picayune things to train for the Cross (the thinking, not the thing, is what counts!); how the small things are even given a "place" in life, their precision, how He capitalized on them, making the non-valuable, valuable -- see the "happiness" there? -- and, how no one thus in life, however "small" the life, is at all small! -- no handicapped person is denied "doing great things for God" because the "great things" are the thinking, using God's IQ -- see the "impersonal love", there? -- so how Great Thou Art -- Personal Love for God... So, this thinking "pleases" Him, because it is a reflection of what Scripture teaches, which the Holy Spirit put in my pea brain, and enables to circulate. God pleases God, in other words. I'm growing, because the truth is cycling, and it restrains the old sin nature, because I'm too busy thinking these thoughts to pay attention to the temptation to dislike the smallness of my tasks! This type of cycling on the small things is extremely powerful, and important: it transforms your soul (see Romans 12:2 and Phil. 1, 2). The small things of life are always more powerful than the big things. "The devil is in the details". For every hour you can spend to do something you deem worthy, it took many many hours of maintainence to even get that hour. One little, loose rivet can cause a plane to crash. One loose remark of a Christian tongue (think of what James says here), how much damage does it do? "Loose lips sink ships"..one small discovery in WWII caused the British to know Axis movements in advance. "..all for the want of a nail", as Benjamin Franklin quipped. You can think of many other examples. The small is NOT small. "Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord". And what is that power? "A still, small voice"..so don't go by the "bigness" you can see..go by the viral nature you can't see. Bible doctrine is a "virus" which gradually wipes out the ravages of the sin nature in your life. Its power is at times demonstrated to you when what humans would call a really big thing hits your life, and you realize you didn't crack! It does train you for the "biggies". Paul makes analogies to the olympic games, in his epistles. Not all tests which are big, though, will LOOK big. (See Matthew 4's tests, to gain some insight on the preceding sentence.) Second Example: traffic, or grocery store. Here, the problem is the logistics, and the people. All of the action-thought categories go on red alert: there will be problems, God will use the problems to benefit the others as well as me (faith circulation plus grace thinking plus doctrinal thinking). Rude people aren't deemed offensive, because self is too happy, too content with God and circumstances, to even much note the rudeness. The rudeness is less "seen", the person is more seen -- one sees past, or beneath, the rudeness to the human being. So, there is compassion (impersonal love), honor, instead of reaction to the rudeness. Instead, the constant thought pattern is centered on Christ: "What would Jesus do?" is no longer a mere wish or catchphrase: you know the answer, and it is a part of you. "Seeing Him Who is Invisible" is your entire life. You don't have to beat any drums, you don't have to tell people, they will somehow know. That trip to the grocery store may be used to witness for Christ, even though all you do, is buy groceries. (I've seen it happen, or couldn't type that sentence.) Seeing everything through the "filter" of seeing Christ first, the entire interpretation and response to the events of tangled traffic, tangled grocery shopping, tangled people is completely relaxed. One's sense of humor is keen. One is relaxed, happy. In Sum.... These same attitudes and thoughts would be on-line even if someone dear was diagnosed with cancer -- they are like compartments of thinking which nothing penetrates, when one is of sufficient growth, and of course, while not carnal! One ends up seeing the vast panorama of His Justice, His Love, how He flips failure into the fabulous! Hurting becomes something of an enjoyment, not masochistic at all: Paul's "the fellowship of His Sufferings" phrase in Phillipians -- a pervasive gratitude, way way beyond what any emotion could "hope" to be. It is really hard to describe. When you get there, you will know. It is a knowing, not a feeling, this happiness. Feeling is there, also, but it is just a reflex, comes along for the ride, doesn't get in the way, anymore, of the knowing. One never stops sinning completely. As growth occurs, sin becomes progressively less frequent, takes more to tempt, takes less time to recover (and guilt, being a sin, is tossed out the window more easily). In essence, one becomes too busy thinking about how He thinks, enjoying how He thinks (see Phillipians on this process). Temptations require you pay attention to them, or else you can't sin. In the beginning, it is hard to pay attention to Bible teaching. As one grows, it becomes easier to look at how He thinks, than to look at how the world thinks, so temptation's power, and thus depravity's power, atrophies. Like (supposedly) the Energizer Bunny (tm), the depravity never quite dies -- but it becomes VERY much weaker. Instead, one is too busy thinking doctrine. As Hebrews 5:9 puts it in the Greek ("underneath" the words of the verse, because two words are a pun!) ..." if it's learning, is it suffering? No!"

6. I don't see how that's better than "works". You might want to review #2, above, with respect to Who hears you all the time, and ask yourself which Persons you are really "working" for. Pleasing the "boss" is a tad more important, than pleasing fellow employees, isn't it? Pleasing the Father is a bit more important than pleasing self or brethern by "helping" them, isn't it? Ask yourself this question before the Lord -- what does HE value more, your thinking so to please the Father, or your body moving around to supposedly benefit other mere people? Who paid for you? The Son, or other people? Beware: if you value what you can see yourself doing as more important than what the Father hears you thinking, you slap the Son's face, the way the Pharisees did. The history of Christianity, like the history of all believers' lives before Christ, reveals that folks' comprehension of Scripture is like an 8-year old's comprehension of "work": do set tasks, do little chores, and Mommy/Daddy will reward you. Or, his comprehension of 'love': sing songs, get hugs, have parties/parades/rituals. See the problem? Christianity's ideas of God and the spiritual life are CHILDISH. Just like fallen Adam's figleaves, actually: think over Genesis 3's significance. So no wonder the Lord said, "I speak to them in parables", and Bible talks of "milk" rather than "solid food". By contrast, the REAL God is SO MUCH MORE than a Sugar Daddy/Petty Judge; Bible is about SO MUCH MORE than third-grade works for mere people; but RATHER about works FOR GOD, like -- um, THINKING. See 1Cor13:8-12, Phili2:5-10, 2Pet3:18, Rom12:2-3, Eph3:15-21, just to name a few bald passages. Precedence for the CRITICAL IMPORTANCE of Thinking-for-God is, of course, Matt4, which derives from Deut8, which is based on Deut6; which is echoed in Deut9 and 30. Which was promised as a permanent WRITTEN text so it could be WRITTEN in the soul, in Jer31:31-34, echoed and explained in Heb8:8-12 through 10:15-17. Check it out yourself. "Works" are distinguished as EITHER bad or good, and if you carefully search all works-passages, you'll find that only when GOD is "IN" the work, is it good. Look up Rev20:11-15, to see how people (well, unbelievers) are JUDGED NEGATIVELY as a result of their GOOD DEEDS (KJV trans. is best, of the English ones). Believer good-deeds, of course, get burned up at the Bema (Evaluation Seat, a raised stage: depicted 'live' in Rev4): 1Cor3 is on that topic. Of course, you could INSTEAD just ask yourself, how is it that a Man Nailed to a Cross could have done ANY works whatsoever, since He couldn't MOVE! So what did He do then? Hint Hint -- THINKING. Just like Matt4, on the Cross the Lord is thinking SCRIPTURE, like Ps22:6, and 31:5 (His last words before He deliberately exhaled His soul). That's what paid for our sins. Can't very well be anything else: how can a physical death pay for SOUL SINS? So a SOUL had to THINK counter-thoughts to match and supercede all those sin thoughts Father imputed to Him (all sin is thought; body merely is a bucket of biology, obeying soul's dictates). So man-centered thinking has a great deal of trouble here, obviously. Remember how the Lord replied to Samuel, when he was stumped as to why the urim and thummin didn't pick any of Jesse's sons as the replacement King for Saul (David not being present)? He says "Man sees on the outside, but God sees on the inside." Or, when He says in the OT: "These people worship me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me", or "I desire Mercy, not Sacrifice!" Or, "My ways are not your ways"; or, the "vain offerings" verses. Or, when He says in NT: "sacrifices and offerings You did not desire, but a Body You have prepared for Me" (Heb10:5); or, "whitewashed tombstones"; or, "let not your prayers be [empty-mouthed phrases] like the Pharisees", or when he said the widow who put in the two coppers gave more than the one before hers' talents, or -- well, you're getting the idea. What we see as "good" is but a small dot -- God sees the whole person, the whole picture, knows whether the "good" is really good, or not. Generally, Not. Remember the Matt7(?) verse about how a tree is known by its fruit? Well, fruit is works. BUT WHAT KIND? And, think: the type of work is coming from a SOURCE, the tree itself. So if that tree is full of rotten thinking, self-righteous thinking, guilt thinking, fear-thinking, fit-in-with-humanity thinking -- just what KIND of fruit do you think will be born? Fruit like that of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, right? Many Christians call themselves "conservative": why? Because we realize that the do-goodism of liberalism in the US is terrible -- a type of tyranny, in the name of good. We SEE that, and so call it "bad". God sees what we do not. So, just as the liberals don't "see" that their agenda is bad, so also we don't "see" how what we think is good is NOT good. But there is a deeper reason why "works" aren't anywhere near as important to God as your thinking. A FAR BIGGER REASON... That reason is the Godhead Themselves! When you think a thought which "pleases" Him -- Who are you "pleasing"? Infinite God! Remember, God is one BIG Is-ness. The thought newly occurring to you 'now' has ALWAYS and will ALWAYS be in front of Him. So how big is that little thought? As big as God is, for it's God's opinion of that never-erased-thought, not your opinion, which matters! So: you got upset in traffic? You'll forget it -- but God 'cannot', for His Omniscience means ALL thoughts of EVERYONE REMAIN ONLINE. Forever. KEY: It's how Big God is, not how big your "work" is, which makes for the VALUE of the "work". In other words, the value of His "Pleasure" is what makes a "work" good...and He is Infinite. So, any format (thing) can be turned into a vehicle for your thoughts to be Divinely pleasing...therefore, any littlest thing, two coppers, even, "becomes" Infinitely valuable, if Divine Thought -- which He puts in you! -- is used. There are well over 100 "sweet savor" verses in Scripture: that term is the KJV translation for a pleasing smell. If you look at 2Cor2:14-15, you'll find that the pleasing smell is the smell of our THINKING: "for we have the Thinking of Christ" (1Cor2:16). Stinky thinking, by contrast, is i-am-important thinking, or that fake humility (oh how humble I am): "Stench" is the actual Bible word (English trans). Stench often accompanies philanthropism: someone wants favor, like Ananais (Acts 5). Someone else wants to GET the philanthropist's money, so to feel important (the Jerusalem Jews in Acts 21:17). Oh yeah -- you think GOD likes that? "Better a meal of vegetables", quipped Solomon (in Proverbs). See also Zech7. For, "Man sees on the outside, but GOD SEES ON THE INSIDE." And if the 'inside' stinks, well... So the first and ONLY VALID "work" is the First Commandment: how you think about Him -- "what think ye of Christ?" and, "Keep on thinking this in you, which was also in Christ Jesus..".Now, what value is your giving everything away, if He's not approved you to do that work? How do you KNOW He's approved the work, until you KNOW Him?? What value is it if you do absolutely everything for mankind, but with precious little understanding of God, because you are a baby Christian? Nothing. Paul explains this valuation system at great length in Romans 8, 9, 12, 15, Philippians, Ephesians, and of course the most famous love passage, 1 Cor 13. 1Jn explains that "love" isn't even possible until you KNOW Him: see 1Jn4. James' main theme, which is shouted in James 1 (which so many baby Christians conveniently ignore), is "FAITH [Doctrine, what-is-believed] works.." That's why James begins the epistle stressing the getting-of-wisdom, and being a doer of the WORD. Beware distorting James' "faith [doctrine, again] without works is dead" -- for it means, really, if you don't know Him, your works are totally DEAD. Even a tax collector can do the same works, the Lord warns in Matt5-6. Moreover, it is often HARDER to do a small thing than a big thing. Much, much harder -- because there is no glamour you recognize in the small thing. It doesn't appeal to you. You don't see it as an achievement. ("You" means all of us. We all have this problem.) So -- since harder, how much more pleasing is it to God if this harder thing is done with the right thinking? Being Royal is enormously difficult. One has no time to think, is constantly beset with picking the right words, must be extremely careful in one's judgments and clarity of thinking, is constantly under command pressure -- yet, on the outside, seems to just "sit there", looking glamourous. The Lord's Thinking while on the Cross is what paid for our sins. He didn't pay for our sins by giving to the poor, by enduring all those trials, by performing miracles, by practicing taboos. He was nailed to the Cross! no movement. How did He avoid sin? How did He actually pay for us? Well, what was the ONLY thing He could "do", since He was nailed there? Thinking Bible Doctrine, just as He did in response to Satan's temptations in Matt 4. Likewise, with Paul: what did he do? He spent a good deal of time chained between two praetorian guards! What work was he doing? None. What then could he do to "please" God? Do you think it was his being chained that pleased God, or his thinking while being chained? That wasn't a particularly pleasant circumstance, but it wasn't like Paul was being tortured, either. Yet, the Holy Spirit gave it to Paul to write Canon during that status.... By contrast, look at Paul's "work" of going to Jerusalem, to try and persuade the Jews, via offering a sacrifice (see Hebrews 5:11 - 6:4, and its 9:14's "dead works" in this connection) -- for which he was roundly disciplined! Why did God discipline Paul so? Ahh, here's the KEY REASON why "works" are generally bad -- THEY ARE DISCONNECTED FROM GOD. Zeal tempts self-focus, TO REPLACE the First Commandment. Even in a great believer. Paul wanted to witness to his fellow Jews. Blinded by his zeal, he wanted to witness in a manner which would disconnect him from God. Paul wanted to alleviate his OWN (otherwise-valid) desire for his fellow Jews to be saved -- but in the WRONG way. In short, God had HIS Own way to enable Paul to satisfy that desire -- which required Paul to go to Rome. But, as Rom15:25ff shows, Paul wanted to personally contact his fellow Jews to witness. But GOD NEVER wanted Paul to do that, and TOLD HIM SO at the time of Paul's conversion: see Paul's startling confession of that fact, in Acts 22:10-21. So, now many years later, Paul can't take the distance anymore; he RATIONALIZES that God wants him to go (again, Rom15:25ff). So, Paul's desire to do a good work, even a normally-GREAT work, was nonetheless disconnecting from God: owing to the pressure of his desire to personally contact his fellows, among whom he was once FAMOUS ("Hebrew of the Hebrews" moniker in Philippians). Notice how connnecting with people often DISCONNECTS from God. That's why the woman and Adam sinned; that's why we do. Works is one of Satan's most effective tactics, for it makes people replace God, in God's own Name! (The "LOTS more" link atop this page explains LOTS more on why the foregoing sentence is true.) So, God used Agabus and others to warn Paul not to go to Jerusalem. Paul ignored the warnings, because in his zeal he didn't confirm his 'interpretation', as it were, of his 'work' of going, with God. So, Paul got punished, nearly beaten to death just outside the Temple: he uses 1Jn1:9 just in time. Still, for some years he was imprisoned. Still, God satisfied Paul's desire in a MUCH BIGGER way -- by giving him the Canon to write. And yet more than this -- by blessing by association all subsequent generations, due to God's Own Enjoyment of Paul's thinking. "Blessing by association" is the most massive benefit God makes of the believer. The huge "LOTS more" site (link is at the top of this page) explains it. Alternatively, an extremely brief summary of this fact, follows. Think this over carefully, for it will help you enormously: you and I are each human beings of a limited nature and power. God is of UNlimited nature and power. Like Paul noted in 1Cor13, even if you gave away all you had, what is that? Limited. Sure, it helps people -- but it is LIMITED to helping them bodily. How can it help their souls? We can't help another's soul. Who can understand his own soul enough to "fix" it, let alone another person? And, even if we could, we are in limited bodies -- we can only be in one place at a time, can only have contact with a limited number of folks! What shall it profit a man, to gain the world, but lose his own soul? What shall it profit folks, to feed their bellies but to leave their souls unhelped? But who of us can even "see" a soul, much less help it? God is not encumbered by human limitations. He can snap His Fingers, as it were, and feed/clothe/shelter EVERYONE. At once. But He doesn't do that. Why? What good would that do their souls? What, is this life down here all there is? What, is the body more important than the soul? What, don't unbelievers run around helping others in bodily things? So: when HE is pleased with what you're thinking, HE CONNECTS bodily stuff to soul-healing, for everyone associated with you. No amount of human talent or effort or money can do that. "Soul healing" begins with the Gospel. He's already been working on the unbeliever, for example: connecting circumstances in his life with Gospel information. At some point, the associations "click" and the unbeliever suddenly realizes it's VALID to believe in Christ. Or, for a believer, the issue is to get into Bible Doctrine. So, the circumstances are orchestrated for that purpose. The JUSTIFICATION for such healing is first Christ, but also YOU: there MUST BE JUSTIFICATION for giving someone blessing. God the Father is Pleased with Christ; God the Father is pleased with a person who is learning Him. His Pleasure JUSTIFIES transmittal of spiritual connection to physical circumstance. After all, that's the same pattern as the Cross -- substitutionary propitiation. Our version of that pattern is called "redeeming the time" and "salt of the earth", among other phrases. See, that's why we don't immediately die once we believe in Christ. We have a role which is totally separate from any thing physical we "do". Christ, immobile on the Cross, having TRAINED for 33 years, was made a substitute for sins (2Cor5:21); similarly, we are DESIGNED to become, if we learn to think like Him, a "sweet savor" substitute toward the Father for the garbage-thinking He hears (i.e., the world's). So, in exchange, the world gets blessing from God it otherwise would NOT get. That's a rather larger benefit to mankind than a "cup of water in the Lord's Name"... So, the idiot Christian who's disconnectedly hustling for God (and even a Paul can become so trapped, as we saw above), that Christian's "dead works" CUT OFF the Divine Justification to bless the recipients. Why? The idiot didn't CONNECT (submit to God's authorization and training), but rather went off on his own "way", blithely patting himself on the back that he was doing "good". Remember, the Christian is ROYAL. God respects authority. If you use your authority to do it "your" way rather than training in God's way, you'll actually HARM the very folks you want blessed. Your way, or God's Way? Your choice. Cursing by association, or blessing by association? Your choice. Baby believers thus do LOTS AND LOTS of "wood, hay, and stubble" from ignorance, arrogance, emotion, you name it. GOD IS NOT IN IT. Instead, God is "into", as 1Pet1:7-8 explains, "the proving of your faith[Gk: "pistis" almost always means "doctrine", what-is-believed], which is more precious than gold". So, the recipients of the many disconnected-from-knowing-Him "works" get only the body benefit. What good is that? Whooopee, as the Lord explained in Matt6(first half of chapter). So, what must God do? PUNISH those who are hustling, so they will get out of His Way. Just as He did, to Paul... (cf. also Heb6's opening warning, Heb11:6 -- where "faith" means "doctrine", as usual -- and Heb2's opening, Heb10's ending warnings.) As my best friend often quips, "No good deed goes unpunished." Indeed. Now you know why. In Sum... So -- what do we know? That a "work" is valued SOLELY by how "pleased" God is with the thought behind it...so, even brushing one's teeth can be more pleasing to God than giving to the poor! So -- what do we know? That to do a "work" we recognize as a work, absent God's having trained us for it can end up getting us in a LOT of trouble! So -- what do we know? That we had better learn Him, and learn the "language" of His Thinking, before we go off half-cocked into "our ways" of allegedly "serving God"!

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