Putting Two and Two Together

There is a story about the boy Jesus at 12 yrs old, sitting with the scholars and teachers of the day in the Temple, listening, and asking questions. Luke records it like this, "...and all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers."

This word, "understanding" is very interesting in that it means "a putting together, a quickness of apprehension, the critical faculty for clear apprehension, intelligently assessing a situation". This word, understanding, is derived from two Greek words, phronesis and sunesis. "phronesis", acts while, "sunesis", judges. Phronesis is the practical side of the mind, while sunesis is the analyzing and discerning side.

My prayer is that God grant me understanding and the ability to put two and two together as I walk with Him daily through life.

Turning

"Turning from something takes courage, turning to something takes
faith."

		Turning from something takes courage, turning to something take faith.

Turning from something takes courage, turning to something take
faith.

Turning from something takes courage, turning to something take
faith.

Turning from something takes courage, turning to something take
faith.

Looking for God

"We habitually and instinctively look to other things besides God and His grace as our justification, hope, significance, and security. We believe the gospel at one level, but at deeper levels we do not. Human approval, professional success, power and influence, family and clan identity--all of these things serve as our heart's "functional trust" rather than what Christ has done, and as a result we continue to be driven to a great degree by fear, anger, and a lack of self-control. You cannot change such things through mere willpower, through learning Biblical principles and trying to carry them out. We can only change permanently as we take the gospel more deeply into our understanding and into our hearts.We must feed on the gospel, as it were, digesting it making it part of ourselves. That is how we grow." (excerpts from The Prodigal God by Tim Keller)

A Good Indication

"We will never find God unless He first seeks us, and He can do this in many different ways. Sometimes He jumps dramatically into our lives and shows His hand print and other times he quietly patiently argues with us even though we continue to turn away. How can you tell if He is working on you? If you begin to sense your lostness and find yourself wanting to escape, you should realize that that desire is not something you could have generated on your own. Such a process requires Help, and if it is happening it is a good indication that He is even now at your side." (excerpts from The Prodigal God by Tim Keller)

Happiness and Peace

"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." ~ C.S. Lewis