ChristianBlessings

Spiritual Entropy
“I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?” (1 Corinthians 6:5)

The word for “shame” in this verse is the Greek entrope, meaning “turning inward” or “inversion.” It is used only one other time, in 1 Corinthians 15:34: “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” Evidently this special variety of shame is associated with taking controversies between Christian brethren to ungodly judges and also with failing to witness to the non-Christian community. Instead of bringing the true wisdom of God to the ungodly, such “entropic Christians” were turning to worldly wisdom to resolve their own spiritual problems. This inverted behavior was nothing less than spiritual confusion!

The modern scientific term “entropy” is essentially this same Greek word. In science, entropy is a measure of disorder in any given system. The universal law of increasing entropy states that every system tends to disintegrate into disorder, or confusion, if left to itself. This tendency can only be reversed if ordering energy is applied to it effectively from a source outside the system.

This universal scientific law has a striking parallel in the spiritual realm. A person turning inward to draw on his own bank of power, or seeking power from an ineffective outside source, will inevitably deteriorate eventually into utter spiritual confusion and death. But when Christ enters the life, that person becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). Through the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Scriptures, “his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). The law of spiritual entropy is transformed into the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2). HMM

From the Institute for Creation Research

Matthew 17:20; “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

This scripture I would hope is one that is familiar to each of us.  Just from a personal perspective, I find it to be a scripture that sheds light on what stands as the core foundation of our relationship with our heavenly father. Faith. 

As each of us go about our daily routine we find that this thing called faith is something that we call upon or lean on.

In my Christian walk I have heard faith described and or defined many different ways.  What continues to encourage me is to give thought to faith by virtue of the five W’s.  Who, What, Where, When, and Why.

Who  

This is where for each of us on a daily basis we find a challenge standing before us.  In this world that we live in it would seem to be the rule rather than the exception that we are called on to place our faith in man.  It would seem that throughout the course of each day we are lead to believe that our faith is to be placed in each other, or let’s just make it plan, in man.  But if by chance we were to look back through time, we will find that over and over again, that faith in man will always result in failure.  As Christians we must remember daily the words from Psalm 146:3 that remind us to “not put our trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.”

What   I am reminded of the fact that if a tree falls in the forest, it does happen even if we do not see it.  These days as such emphasize the misnomer that seeing is believing, and that it has to be tangible in order for something to be real.  Society operates under the principal of the five senses.  If by chance something does not affect these senses then it is not considered to be real.  It has been said that this is the case then for many in society when it comes to faith.

But we know that faith is substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.  It is at its very essence the polar opposite of what the world believes. For those of us on this Christian walk we know that we are called to see it without seeing it.

 Where   the on going viewpoint of today’s world is that your faith can be and perhaps should be in those things that we own or place on a pedestal.  As an example when we arise in the morning and prepare to go to work we do so assuming that our vehicles will start and get us on the way.  Or maybe once we get to that job we believe that it will always be there no matter come what may.  But I am reminded of the meaning of Matthews 7:26 warning us that foolish is the man that builds his house on sand.  This much we all can testify to, life will in the blink of an eye throw us a curve leaving us virtually upside down.  And thus the very things that we considered as the bedrock of our faith proved to be otherwise.

When   it is I will admit easy for us to have faith when things are going smoothly.  When all in our lives is calm, our faith is there but for the most part we don’t really think about activating it.  But it is during those times when as the songwriter, when the storms of life are raging, it would seem that all we have to lean on and draw on itself is our faith.  It is during these times when all around us is seemly falling apart that we turn most of all to our faith knowing come what may when we need God the most, he will be there for us.  It may not appear to make sense to the rest of the world, but we know that when all else may fail, God the author and finisher of our faith, will never fail us.

Why  in our natural state there are times I am sure when we have asked ourselves why should I have faith, or I’m sure others have asked why do you have faith.  Truth be told there have been many times in each of our lives we may have questioned ourselves as to why we have faith.  Our answer to why we have faith is for each of us different.  But what does bind us together is the reality that sometimes we can’t explain why we have faith; we just know that we know that no matter what the situation is or whatever it is that we are facing, we know that in looking back over the course of our lives we that we have come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord as the songwriter wrote, and trusting in his holy word.  And sometimes though others may not be able to understand our why it is for us a matter of trust and believe.

A mustard seed.   Though not large in size, ultimately we know that it’s not the size of our faith that matters, it’s quality of our faith and how it directs each of our lives that stands as a reflection of the who, what, where, when and why of this thing called faith.

To God Be The Glory

Alan T. Black