A bag of seeds
Belief is more than a mental assent to a propositional statement valued as true but it begins in this form. I like to think of a propositional truth like one would a seed. A seed differs from other seeds by way of kind. The seed reproduces after its kind. Seeds from an oak tree become Oak trees, a pine tree seed grows to be a pine tree. A propositional truth is like this in that it differs from other from of truth in kind. The truth, Jesus is God, is not the same kind of truth as, bricks are red or math is hard. All three statements are propositional but only one is eternal. The truth that Jesus is God is a spiritual reality. That makes it ontological in nature and universal in scope and adherence. The other two are not. (There are excerptions to the statement, like bricks can be grey and some people find math easy, [the last one is hard to believe I know])
Second, this seed principle also states that all propositional truths of spiritual reality are like seeds in that they do not start in the mind as great truths. They start as seeds. An oak tree seed holds within it the potential of an Oak tree. But it will not be an Oak tree till it has two things: Opportunity and a place to grow. If we give ourselves to this task of “truthing” our self (mind and heart), flowers of beauty and the fresh aroma of goodness will cover the pathways of our thoughts. It is a secret Garden known only to those griped by the gospel. Looking deeper, when I say place I do mean the mind. God created the mind with its emotions and passions, logic and coherence. It is good to remember that it is a sinner’s nature to separate facts and the fire. All were to run smoothly in the direction of God. This is a process of spiritual growth in the intellect. Faith grounded in facts, Facts driving the fire, fires filling the soul. The movement of such a soul is a God honoring activity: A wholly burning humanity living caught up in the fact of God. God smiles at his creation in proper response to his divine initiatives of created reality.
Before all this can happen the seed must be planted. We must think and understand the truth. I will extend the seed metaphor, Clarity is equal to the degree of depth a seed is planted. There are two dangers in this planting process. One if you plaint it to deep the seed will die from what I call “deep thoughts that goes nowhere”. There is a way of thinking about truth that never connects it to reality and heart. Some call it ivory tower faith or frontal lobe faith I call it stupid. It is when a person thinks of truth from a mental distance. Jesus is God is looked at as factual, logical, even scriptural but never looked at as real, actual, or truth for me, that is to say it never becomes truth trusted. The energy of that truth is never tapped into and let loose to corset through your mental catacombs. The different between a soul that lives truth trusted and a soul that just knows truth is dramatic. For the latter truth is before them, they can define it, fight over it, explain it from every angle and even teach it in seminary. For the former, they do not have truth, truth has them. They also can define it, fight over it, explain it and teach it in seminary but it is something that owns them and they do not own it. They are in truth and not merely mentally looking at it.
The second danger is planting the seed to shallow. That is truth never gets rooted because of sinking thinking. That is we glance at truth and say,” Jesus is God” wow! That is great. I can trust that truth! It is real to me! Now what new can I learn!” Or “I need not learn anymore.” When we only look at truth on a surface level we seldom see the beauty and are captured by the power of truths depths. The value we place on a propositional truth is constant with the time we spend with it. Take time to be with a truth, talk to it, hear it talks back. Tell it –“you can’t be true!” Hear it declare “I AM!!” Look at it and let it look back at you. We must remember every truth of God pears deeper into our souls than we can see into it. Thinking when your trusting truth makes the objective affective. Our subjective is bent about the objective and we are reformed into the image of truth trusted. “Jesus is God” is escorted in by this process to his rightful place at the soul’s center. From this reformed center it is a powerful point of worship. It confirms loyalty as the gravity of the soul. In short, truth leads a revolution of the heart and revision of the mind’s eye. Values are changed and perception is shifted. The place truth grows is the mind and heart. The opportunity is in life itself. Any time is a good time. Time set aside is a better time. Though out the day, I give myself daily Gospel quizzes. Not to be confused with the moral quizzes of the moralist that seeks to establish a beachhead of self-righteousness and thus strip life of the gospel. Rather my type quizzes seek to see life envisioned through the gospel and values centered in the person of the gospel.
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